


That Freckled Boy I Used To Know

by Starshot151



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, JeanxMarco - Freeform, M/M, Titan!marco, jean x marco - Freeform, jeanmarco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-10 14:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starshot151/pseuds/Starshot151
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco wakes up in the forest of giant trees, not knowing how he got there. After making the grim discovery that he has been reincarnated into a titan, he wanders aimlessly around the forest until he stumbles across a stranded Jean, about to meet his fate with a titan ready to devour him. Will they recognise each other and restore the bond they once had? Titan!Marco x Jean AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discovery

The brown, frightened eyes of Marco opened harshly as his sight, smell, taste and hearing were all restored in an unfriendly blow. His breathing quickened then slowed down to a more comfortable pace as he laid there, wondering whether he should attempt to lift himself up from the scratchy, dry grass which prickled his skin. With a breath of determination filling his lungs, he pressed his hands into the ground and lifted himself up with all his might and tried to stand on his shaky legs, patches of his memory fading away as quickly as he regained his senses. Something was...different about him and he couldn't figure out what it was.  
After a few tries after him falling back to the ground with his legs collapsing, he finally managed to restore his balance and stand upright, stretching his arms far above his head, his muscles growing accustomed to moving again. He looked around to become familiar with his surroundings when he heard a twig crack close by, alerting him and instilling him with fear. Expecting to be face to face with a fierce wild animal from the forest of giant trees he was imprisoned in, he instead looked down to see a majestic stag, unbothered by his presence. Wait...looking down?  
His once smooth and freckled hands had been transformed into muscle and bone ridden monstrosities, his body now a ravaged and enormous symbol of extermination. Clumsily trying to claw his way to a river which he heard trickling nearby, he dared to look at his new persona in the clear, untouched water. What he saw made him leap back in fear, causing the ground to shake for a moment when he hit the ground. Panic swept over his new body like a plague, heaving with anxiety and darting his eyes around for some kind of salvation. Racking his new titan brain for any fragments of memories which were left in the darkest of crevasses. He remembers a single face and name which sticks out in a sudden wave of discovery. With all hope escaping him, he began his long and endless wander around the forest of giant trees, waiting for something he wasn't sure of.

\-------

Jean stood solemnly as he watched the expressionless men ignite the fire which crept its way over the bodies of those who died at Trost. While another man read a list of names which were the people who managed to be identified. He waited in suspense while he waited for his former friend's name to be called out uncaringly as he listened to the crackling of the fire, charring the bones of his companion in an almost rhythmic pattern.

“...Marco Bodt...”

Jean flinched at the sound. He managed to lock his tears safely away inside him before giving a final nod to the hole being filled before taking up his new position as one of the scouting legion. Leaving his past life in the training centres behind, he sighed heavily and closed the door to the barracks where he used to be with Marco. Deciding it was time to move on, he slammed the door extra hard and began his journey outside the walls, not knowing what he will find.

The horses were galloping at full speed while the scouting legion sent up countless flares, Jean not knowing who he will see by the end of this expedition. With titan after titan lunging at his group time and time again, he soon found himself all alone after dodging over and over. He was outside the walls with no help or means of defence except a 3DMG with each gas cannister at half capacity. Another titan lunged at his horse, and out of instinct of keeping himself in one piece, he leapt off the horse, allowing it to be trapped in the mouth of the titan who then clumsily toppled over and laid there. Now Jean started to panic. He was outside the safety of the safety of human civilisation with half empty cannisters of gas and his 3DMG in the middle of a clearing. He sees another titan charging towards him, its steps getting wider and wider along with its mouth. After trying to scramble away unsuccessfully, he closed his eyes, waiting for him to become titan food, screaming his last farewell to his life.

\-------

Marco could see the brighter sunlight of a clearing up ahead while aimlessly walking in a direction he didn't know what it would lead to. He saw a tiny soldier, scrambling on the floor to try and escape the incoming titan who was set on devouring him. Marco continued to watch on, reluctant to help the human who would be bent on killing him anyways. His titan-hearing picked up something familiar to him, a trigger in the cloud of nothingness which was his mind. A scream from the soldier who sounded like...sounded like...

“Jeeeaa...nuh?” Marco attempted to say. “”JEEA..AANN!!” 

Marco began a full sprint towards the titan who was ready to devour the only thing he remembered from his humanity. As Jean turned around to see a second titan race toward him, he was ready for death, shutting his eyes tight. A ear splitting roar from Marco opened Jean's eyes once again, as he swore he heard traces of Marco's voice from the titan! Marco rammed the titan to the ground, then swiftly picked it up and bit the nape of its neck straight out of it. Haha, one more thing I remember I guess. Marco thought. After tossing the titan corpse to the ground, he gently crouched down near the other soldier and sat down with his knees crossed, trying to act peaceful and harmless. He stared at Jean who returned the gaze with a much colder, more fearful look. Marco tried to extend his hand out to Jean who was frozen in place with fear and amazement. Marco tried to speak again.

“Jeeaann?” Marco tried to whisper, but failed miserably. His voice croaked embarrassingly as Marco tried to cover his mouth with his free hand, looking quite flustered.

Jean was speechless, but managed to return the titan's question.

“Ye-yes, it's Jean...M-Marco?!”

Marco smiled and tears began to swell up in his eyes and drip down his face. Jean did the same. He ran straight into Marco's outstretched hand and hugged a finger tight.

“Marco!! I thought I'd lost you!! Why didn't you tell me you were a shifter?!”

Marco looked confused.

“You're...not a shifter? You're stuck like that?”

He nodded sadly.

Jean let out a sigh of disappointment. He shook it off and started to grin at Marco's new form.

“Don't worry yourself too much, Marco. I'll keep you safe, no matter the cost.”


	2. An Unlikely Pair

Marco's freckles and his glimmering brown eyes stood out to Jean as his remaining humanity was embedded in this creature, mankind's enemy. Still exercising great caution around this gentle giant, Jean carefully climbed into the hand of Marco, feeling a sudden tremor as he jerked his head up at Marco, covering his mouth again to hide giggles. Jean smiled and soon began to laugh along with him, he was tickling him on his palm with the tiny steps he was taking, which would have felt like an insect crawling on him in Jean's perspective. The mighty titan sat completely still, watching his friend study him closely, after all, this was the only time he would be able to see a titan this close without it attempting to eat him. Jean was making his way out of the titan's hand and hopped out onto Marco's thigh, heading up to his torso, observing every muscle decorating it along the way. A wrong step caused Jean to roll his ankle on a bump sticking out which caused him to topple off Marco's leg. With a sudden yelp of concern, Marco scooped Jean back into his hand and placed him gently on the ground with a worried but relieved look on his face.

“Aaarree...youuu...aaarriighh...” Marco tried to ask softly.  
“Yes, Marco,” Jean said, still not quite used to the situation he was in, “I'm fine. Thanks for the catch though.” He said with a smile.

Marco stretched out a finger and patted Jean on the head to show his relief, while Jean tried to swat away the giant's digits.

The gleaming rays of sunset started to bounce off Marco's enormous body and shine on Jean's 3DMG as they both looked into the sun with a worried expression on their face.

“Marco, I can't stay here. It's too dangerous for me. I need to get back with the other soldiers, but that's also really risky for you in your...current form.”

Marco nodded understandingly.

“I-IIII w-wiii...” the giant rumbled.  
“Don't take me Marco. If they see you, they'll kill you on sight.”

Marco let out a cry of sadness. He spread his arms out and gestured to the blank clearing that surrounded them with a pleading look on his face.

“...right. How am I going to get there with no horse or no trees to use my 3DMG on? Alright, Marco. You'll have to escort me there.”

Marco cheered happily, but after realising that Jean had blocked his ears, he dramatically reduced the volume of his cheering to a quiet rumble. Marco offered out his hand for Jean to climb onto. Jean, feeling more relaxed, stumbled into his hand, tripping on the skin between the large fingers. Marco uttered a small chuckle and placed Jean on his shoulder and swept some strands of hair for him to hold onto. They soon began their walk together, no longer as human and human, but human and titan, a unique combination in which Jean could never see himself being a part of.  
Marco soon tensed up as he began to detect the presence of titans around him. Not wanting to lose his friend, he carefully plucked Jean from his shoulder, cupped him in his hands and began to sprint in the location in which Jean claimed to had seen a green flare. After about half an hour of travel, Jean told Marco to let him down a kilometre away from the temporary location of the scouting legion and ushered him away from the site. Marco complied, but backed away with a heartbroken expression. With a giant hand raised above his eyes, Marco tried to sign that he will keep a look out for Jean on his way back. He understood and laughed at Marco's shoddy gesture.

Jean opened the door expecting no one to be in there, but what greeted him was a series of astonished faces, unblinking. 

“JEAN?!” everyone exclaimed.

Levi got out of his seat at the back corner of the room and strolled up calmly to meet with Jean. He grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him down to his eye level.

“I don't know what you did or how you did it, but never do that again.” Levi threatened coolly. “Get some sleep, you'll need it for tomorrow.”

Just as Jean was about to turn around and get some rest, he felt someone slam full force into him and spin him around. He was met with sparkling eyes behind glasses and a grinning face.

“Did you see any up close?!” Hanji squealed enthusiastically.  
“See...what?” Jean stammered.  
“TITANS! Did you see any titans out there??” she continued to press on.

Jean tried to think of an answer without giving away Marco.

“I saw...one. It was a small one and it was a long way away. I don't think it saw me.”

Hanji's eyes began to sparkle even brighter as she walked away, or danced away more like it. When Jean finally managed to get some sleep, he made sure that he was in a room by himself, as he couldn't stand to be around the scouting legion much longer. He isolated himself in a room a floor below the others, as they all fought for the beds on the highest level like the children Jean thought they were. He was content with the bed that no one wanted. As he took off his 3DMG and hung it up next to his cloak, he went to open the curtain to look at the scenery one last time before going to sleep, only to be met with a large brown eye!

Jean leapt back, trying not to make too much noise as he was startled by the gentle beast crouching and peering into his window!

“Marco!!” Jean hissed, “Get away from here! If anyone sees you, they'll wake up the whole castle!!”

Marco's face dropped. He opened his mouth to try and speak to Jean.

“Shhhh!! Get away as fast as you can, titans rely on sunlight don't they? You wouldn't have much energy left to escape.”

Marco pouted his lip and began to make his leave. He tiptoed as quietly as he could for a distance then began to make a sprint back into the safety of a forest nearby, barely making it as Jean saw him topple over and not get back up. The gentle giant pounded the dirt with his fist in frustration. He just wanted to spend more time with Jean. Maybe what he did wasn't the smartest thing to do, waltzing into enemy territory like that. He was just happy he got to see his best friend one last time before he was immobilised.


	3. Take Heed, My Friend

Jean woke up fully refreshed the next morning and immediately checked to see if his friend was still immobilised on the outskirts of the forest. He pulled back the curtains lazily and squinted in the morning sunlight which burned his unadjusted eyes. He couldn't see a body there, either he was captured early by the scouting legion or he managed to regain enough energy to retreat into a safer part of the land. He was startled out of his train of thought by a loud thumping on his door followed by Eren's voice.

“Come on Jean! You're the last one up you useless thing! We have a forest to scout!” Eren lectured from the other side of the door.

Oh shut up you nutcase, Jean sneered In his head. He hastily grabbed his cloak and dramatically swung it around his shoulders. He fastened his 3DMG tight and left the room without saying a word. When he went downstairs, he noticed something, different about the room. It was entirely spotless!

“Noticing Levi's cleanliness now are you?” Hanji joked around.

She brought over a bowl filled with goodness-knows-what while Jean cringed at the smell arising from the bowl. After a daring teaspoon he discovered that it smelled worse than it tasted.

“Yeah...so what are we doing today again?” he asked trying not to sound concerned.  
“We're scouting the forest of giant trees! To see what titans are out there so we can go and kill or capture them tomorrow!” Hanji explained enthusiastically.

Jean nearly spit out the mysterious liquid. Kill titans?! What if someone tries to kill Marco?! He had to warn him before it was too late! But how would he escape the legion and convince him to go ahead and tell his friend?

“..killing them, eh?” Jean tried to play coolly.  
“I know right?! What a waste of precious resources to study! We could catch them I reckon!” Hanji dramatically whined.

The galloping cluster of the legion's horses beelined towards the forest of giant trees, where they tied them up and swung up to the branches with their 3DMG. Jean piped up to volunteer to go ahead, much to the surprise of Eren. With a tch! coming from Eren's direction, which cheered Jean up slightly while thinking of the idea of stealing Eren's spotlight, he sped off to find and inform his unknowing friend about what could be his fate.

 

Marco's eyes fluttered open as he felt the warm rays of sunlight revitalise him and restore his energy. After a long night of thinking about Jean, he finally heaved his large body up off the ground and began his walk in the forest once again, hoping to see his friend swing gracefully through the trees with that weird contraption around his waist. Settling down by the trunk of a tree, he looked up at the sky and wondered what to do now, and if Jean was ever going to come back despite the form Marco now inhabited. He stared at his hand and slammed it against the trunk in a fit of anger. 

A hiss of gasoline alerted Marco and a tiny soldier came swinging down in his direction. Jean! Marco began to smile, revealing his teeth, but then realised that this probably terrified Jean, so he gave a closed lip smile instead and waved, something he saw a soldier do before Marco approached the castle the night before. He held out a hand for Jean to land on, and after doing so gracefully, Jean began to explain what was going on with the scouting legion.

“Marco,” Jean began, “Don't come looking for me tomorrow.”  
“Huuuuhhh?” Marco whined.  
“The scouting legion are planning to kill as many titans as they possibly can tomorrow. I want you to stay out of sight and to stay hidden. I...just found you, I can't lose you again.”

Marco rumbled with a disheartened look. He gave Jean puppy eyes and leaned in ever so closer, to which Jean backed away just a little bit, to which Marco retreated with an apologetic gaze. Marco cautiously guided his free hand to where Jean was, and touched him very lightly on the chest. Jean took hold of Marco's middle finger earnestly and looked straight into the giant's pitiful eyes.

“I'm sorry Marco. I know this will be hard for you. Stay. Out. Of. Their. Sight.” he lectured with a wag of his finger, “If you do that, I will come see you again. That's a promise. And...umm, I'm just not quite...used to you yet. No need to apologise.”  
“Jeaann..” Marco began.  
“Yes?”

Marco tried to find the right words to get his message across, but to no avail. He scooped up Jean and placed him on his knee and gestured to him to watch the giant make his next move, with Jean's full attention.  
Marco first pointed to Jean, then moved his hands to make a sleeping gesture and exaggerate his breathing. He pointed to the sun and moved his finger to gesture it going down and then to finish off his message, he pointed to himself.

“...you want me to go to sleep?” Jean asked, confused.

Marco groaned and repeated his actions a second time. Marco pointed to Jean than himself. He gestured to the sun and directed his point down then repeated his sleeping impersonation.

“...you want me to sleep with you?” Jean asked a little taken back.

Marco groaned again and put his thumb and index finger close to each other, indicating to Jean that he was nearly there.

“Oh! You want me to come visit you?”

Marco laughed and ruffled Jean's hair with a finger lightly.

“Hmm...I cant guarantee it but I'll try. Don't expect me though. Can you be somewhere that I can actually see you and where there are no other titans?

Marco pointed to the edge of the forest, just on the clearing.

“Perfect.” Jean confirmed, “Well, I guess I'll see you soon.”

Marco lifted him higher to make sure his 3DMG was in range.

“Thanks for the boost. Goodbye, Marco.”

With a sharp hiss of gas and the sound of ropes echoing off the tree trunks, Jean swung off, leaving his friend sitting there with his hand still extended. Little did Marco notice, was that he was being watched by Levi since Jean said his goodbyes. After Levi took off, Marco recognised the sounds of the 3DMG and immediately analysed the environment for any more soldiers, but then dismissed it for Jean. Marco leaned his head back onto the tree, relaxing his hand between his crossed legs.

“Jeaaann...Jeaaaa...” Marco droned to himself.

Later that night, Levi kept a watchful eye on Jean as he sat eating whatever was in that bowl. After waiting for everyone else to go to sleep, Jean tiptoed out of the castle and silently lead his horse a good distance away from the castle before mounting it. He gave the horse a kick and went off searching for his friend.  
Marco lay waiting on the edge of the clearing, making sure no other titans were around to disturb them. He drew random shapes in the ground with his finger and sighed deeply. When will he get here? His eyes darted up to the faint sound of a horse galloping, carrying a soldier. The soldier hopped off the horse and tied it to a dead tree where it stood motionless.

“Hey Marco, sorry I'm late.” Jean rang.

The titan's eyes lit up with glee as a hand slowly glided over in the direction where Jean approached him. Giant fingers brushed softy against Jean's cheek as he unfastened his 3DMG (well he didn't want any surprises on the way) and sat in Marco's cupped hand, facing him. Jean smiled dearly at his friend as their night together began.


	4. Under The Stars

The stars which blinked and sparkled that were framed by wispy clouds provided the only source of light between the human and titan. Marco stared lovingly at Jean as he struggled to stay awake, squirming around in his hand to try and find a more comfortable spot in the giant's palm. After finding the right position, Jean let out a sigh and relaxed, stretching his arms and legs like he was in an armchair by the fire. He quickly looked away as he accidentally made eye contact with a peaceful Marco, starting to blush a little. Jean, wanting to break the silence and to get some answers as to what happened to the Marco he once knew in the army barracks, took in a breath to calm down and began to speak.

“So...Marco...” Jean started.  
“Jeaaannn?”  
“Do you um...remember how you got to be like...this?” Jean asked reluctantly.

Marco looked up at the sky trying to remember just how he got in that forest in the first place. Racking his titan mind as fast as he could, he concluded nothing and shook his head while rumbling disappointedly.

“Nothing, huh?” Jean confirmed. “That's a shame. Do you remember anything from when you were human? You do know that you were human at one point, right?”

The titan shrugged his shoulders, pointed to his temple and frowned, trying to tell Jean that he didn't know anything.

“You really don't know much, do you..” Jean sighed.

Marco smiled slightly before pointing to Jean. He then pointed back to his temple and smiled even more.

“...all you remember, is me?” Jean asked with an unsure tone to his voice.

Marco nodded, giggling slightly as he went to ruffle Jean's hair again, with Jean not caring at all while he was falling asleep in Marco's hand. Soon after a matter of minutes, Jean was fast asleep in Marco's hand. They laid there together, Marco forever staring as his exhausted friend and stroking Jean's cheek very lightly with his hand, humming quietly to himself in bliss. After a few hours, Marco decided that he would have to take Jean back to the castle and try and place him back in his bed without soldiers noticing. Gulping and taking in a breath, he began his walk back to the castle while trying not to let his heavy steps wake up the sleeping Jean. As he approached the castle, he gently opened Jean's window and tried his best to place Jean in his bed, but he could not reach, instead placing him on the floor as far as his hand would fit through the gap. Feeling pretty pleased with his result, he stealthily snuck back to the forest, as he had saved his energy from when he met Jean earlier that day...under the watch of Levi from the topmost tower.

Jean woke up to Eren's thumping on the door once again, lecturing him through the splintering wood. After ruffling his own hair, Jean sleepily put on his uniform before realising where he was. He was back in his room! When he went downstairs to face the unknown broth once again, he and the scouting legion went off to kill as many titans as they could, Jean hoping and praying that Marco listened to his advice. They all took their positions in the trees while Levi approached Eren quietly.

“Eren, listen to me carefully...”  
“Yeah? Wait..what do you want me to do?!”

The legion took off slaughtering every titan in their sights, their graceful flight and the slicing of flesh by their blades the last things that each and every titan knew before they were unmercifully exterminated by the hands of the humans. All of them, class after class, fell to the ground with a mighty tremor which echoed throughout the dense and cramped landscape. The legion swooped, glided and soared in between the trees, dodging branches and the jaws of stray titans. The slicing of the titans' necks grew to become music to the legion's ears, especially Eren's, the only one not enjoying the sound was Hanji who wailed in despair about losing valuable specimen. Jean took extra caution as he killed each titan, observing it carefully to make sure it wasn't Marco. This way of thinking almost caused Jean to be eaten several times over, but he would have rather suffer that fate than to hear Eren's taunts and joking which followed his moments of near death. Levi swung up near Eren and gave him a signal, something Jean didn't pick up as they unknowingly drew closer to Marco's hiding place.

The legion then came to a sudden halt. 

All except Jean.

\----------------

Marco remembered Jean's advice clearly and took cover hiding in some overgrown bushes, waiting in suspense with his hands covering the nape of his neck. He remained motionless, scared and praying that the legion weren't travelling near his hiding place. A puff of smoke and a ghastly roar emitted from a nearby location which got the unknowing Marco curious. Against his better judgement, he left his hiding place and nervously went to investigate.

\----------------

Jean had no idea that the legion was letting him go further than them, too focused on his mission and too focused worrying about Marco's safety. The sound of heavy running drew his attention to a titan charging head on at him. It's eyes glowing green with anger and hair whipping in the wind as it beelined straight for Jean.

“EREN!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Jean screamed.

The titan didn't stop, its roar echoing all around the forest, and straight into Marco's range of hearing. Now even more curious, Marco took more cautious steps forward only to see Jean narrowly missing the jaws of an unfamiliar titan. Leaving his own personal safety behind, Marco dived and caught Jean in his hands before toppling to the ground. Letting Jean go to escape the titan, Marco stood upright again to face the monstrosity that was trying to devour his best friend. It's glowing eyes pierced right into Marco's watering, frightened brown ones as the Eren let out an ear-splitting roar which scared the gentle giant into stepping back and running away as fast as his giant legs could take him. 

“EREN!! STOP IT! YOU'LL SCARE HIM OFF!!” Jean tried to plead.

Eren gave chase immediately and Marco found himself surrounded by the scouting legion, all their cold, merciless eyes fixed upon him as Marco was frozen in place with fear. Eren slowed down his sprint to an intimidating and terrifying stroll as he kept close eye contact with Marco, ensuring that he was frozen in place.

“NOW!!” Marco heard Hanji exclaim.

The forest became alive with the sounds of cannons, ropes and the sound of piercing flesh into Marco's skin accompanied with a cry of pain from the giant now trapped in wires and ropes. The sound of a 3DMG came from Jean's as he was horrified to see Marco in the hands of the scouting legion, not knowing what they would do to Marco and to himself. Hanji hung by her 3DMG on a branch above Marco's face and adjusted it so she was face to face with her captured specimen. Marco moved his head away in pure fear, tears swelling up, with Hanji's blades still drawn and shining in the sunlight that managed to break the canopy. She studied every muscle, torn skin and tooth of him while laughing to herself and expressing her joy through cheering and shouting. Levi noticed Jean's entrance and casually walked up to Jean and looked at him dead in the eye.

“Now, Kirschstein, you're going to tell us what this titan is or who it is, and why I saw you with it.”


	5. Comfort

Jean stared wide-eyed as his friend was trapped in wires and ropes like a wild animal. Marco's head drooped down in submission, eyes closed and tears almost dripping down his freckled face. Hanji tried to get a closer look at the titan but he avoided all eye contact with her and started to quiver in fear. Hanji hummed to herself and huffed in frustration at the titan's inability to cooperate. 

“Oh come on! The sooner I can study you and find out just what you are, the sooner you can get out of these restraints! Okay, that may not be true but can you at least try to cooperate with me here?” Hanji complained, “Oh! Hey there Jean! So this is the buddy you've been sneaking off to visit?”

Marco's head jerked up at the sound of Jean's name. Seeing his friend next to Levi, absolutely horrified and ashamed at the sight of him in this condition, Marco's body started to shake and heave, tears starting to drip down his face as his voice became choked up with small, hiccup-like sobs. Hanji backed away from the emotional giant as its sobs grew louder and louder, staring at Jean the entire time. Jean himself started to tear up, his eyes stinging as he tried to keep them open for as long as possible. Marco began to resist the wires and ropes, trying to reach his friend. After he realised that he could not escape as he regenerated on top of the restraints, sealing them in, he let out a great wail and began crying uncontrollably. His cries and shouts rang throughout the forest as steaming tears streamed down his face and onto the ground below. Jean couldn't take it much longer. He grabbed Levi's collar and dragged him to look straight into his eyes.

“Let him go! Listen to me! That titan is Marco Bodt! You have to believe me! I don't know what happened but...he kinda reincarnated or something! If you free him from these wires, he won't run away, I promise! Just let me get to him!!” Jean screamed at the top of his lungs over the titan's crying.

Levi glanced at the titan then signalled to Hanji to release the restraints, much to Hanji's horror. The wires snapped and ripped out of Marco's body, adding to the volume of his cries and wails. Marco dropped to his hands and knees with a mighty quake, still unable to control the sobbing which shook his entire body. Jean hurriedly swung down to try and comfort Marco. He landed on one of Marco's hands and tried to wave him down, avoiding steaming hot tears falling from the giant's now red eyes. Marco opened an eye, still blurry from the tears blinding him. He immediately picked Jean up, sat up on his knees and began to cradle him and hold him to his chest like a small animal. The warmth of the titan's body comforted Jean as he started to notice that Marco's breathing had slowed down considerably and his sobs were less frequent. Marco's body vibrated with his booming titan voice and quietened as Jean cooed him into a quiet whisper. Marco lifted Jean from his chest and held him up to his face, with Jean leaning in and stroking Marco's cheek, avoiding the ripped skin revealing his teeth.

“It's okay now, Marco. I'm so sorry for leading you into this death trap. You're safe now.” Jean tried to comfort the sobbing giant.  
“Jeaaann!” Marco continued to cry.  
“It's...alright, Marco...you're...” Jean began to say, then broke down crying himself.

Eren walked over to the emotional pair and held a hand out to Marco, offering a hand to stand. Marco backed away in fear.

“It's fine, Marco. That titan's not dangerous.”

Marco pointed angrily to Jean then to Eren and gestured eating by biting his teeth together.

“Yeah, he'll explain what he did...later.” Jean said with a sting.

Eren rolled his eyes with his hand still extended. Marco took it cautiously and stood up straight, his wounds from the wires healing gradually. Jean threw a filthy look to Eren who responded by pointing a skeletal finger in Jean's face. Marco tried to put on a threatening face while moving Jean out of Eren's way. Hanji's laughter filled the forest which was followed by her excited ramblings.

“Yahooooo! Now I have TWO titans to study!! This day cannot get any better! Just think about all the progress that we could make oh my goodness we need to get back to the base so I can get to work straight away and we need to get back before we run into anymore titans and oh my this is so exciting TWO TITANS NO MAKE THAT FOUR WITH SAWNEY AND BEAN AND-”  
“Enough, Hanji.” Levi interrupted coldly. “We'd better head back. The others are waiting for us. These big-ass trees are creeping me out.”

Jean told the scouting legion to go on ahead without them, but their mistrust got the better of them and told Eren to escort them back if they were so persistent of letting the rest go forward. Eren's orders were 'if they resist, kill the titan', to which both Jean and Marco understood crystal clear. After their long walk back to the castle, the segment of the scouting legion that were injured on the way to the castle stared at Eren and Marco in wonder and in Marco's case, in horror. The first to speak up was Armin, who was maintaining his 3DMG outside rather than be cramped inside.

“You have another titan behind you!! What is this?!” Armin exclaimed.  
“We're going to find that out, through your friend Kirchstein.” Levi lazily replied.

Jean hopped down from Marco's hand and went to greet Armin.

“I'm sure you would recognise this titan, wouldn't you?” Jean asked.  
“...I would??”  
“I'll give you a hint. You two used to maintain your 3DMG together.”

Armin's mouth dropped wide open as he looked up at the towering giant, observing the dismantled 3DMG. His brown eyes and freckled body soon became blindingly obvious to the tactician.

“M-MARCO?!”

Marco smiled nervously as he went to touch the half-assembled 3DMG.

“Aaarrr....minn?” Marco recalled.  
“You talk?!”

Jean turned to the rest of the petrified scouting legion.

“Haha...well I guess I have some explaining to do, then.”

 

[Hey there! Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it, feel free to leave a review, I would love to hear from you! If I mis-characterised someone, let me know so I can improve in later chapters. Constructive criticism is always welcome.]


	6. Fresh Faces and Old Friends

Jean scanned the astounded faces of the scouting legion and tried to come up with an easy-to-understand explanation that wouldn't result in Marco's death. After a moment of formulating and putting together a hopefully suitable answer, Jean turned back to Marco, who made himself comfortable by sitting cross-legged on the grass.

“Right, um...so this is Marco Bodt.” Jean began, feeling like a fool, “He used to be a soldier. He was my...best friend until his death. I don't know how it happened, but it looks like he reincarnated into a titan, but he's not a shifter. He's stuck like that. I know how stupid I sound, but, you have to believe me.”

A sudden tremor turned everyone's attention to Eren, who collapsed to the ground, a little human emerged from the beast's nape. He stumbled out of the steaming, decaying body and slowly approached Jean with an unsure look on his face.

“Hey...Jean.” Eren mumbled.

Jean raised an eyebrow.

“Can I talk to you later about something?”  
“Why can't you say it now? I'm here aren't I?”

Eren looked away and calmed himself down.

“I wanted to...explain what happened back in the forest. I was told by Levi to become a titan and chase down a deviant that could jeopardise the mission. But I instead lured Marco into that trap. I didn't know, I promise. 

Jean continued to gaze at Eren.

“And, about the whole 'trying to eat you' thing. I...lost control of my titan form at the start. It was actually Marco who gave me a good hit and got me back under control. I assumed that it was Marco who Levi was talking about so I started to give chase. If I had known that that titan was Marco...things could have gone very differently.” Eren murmured.

Jean stopped Eren with a lift of his hand and a nod.

“Don't worry about it, alright? It's been stressful for all of us. All I care about is that you'll do your bit to keep Marco safe.”

Eren smiled slightly at Jean and turned to Marco. The soldier saluted the titan with a small, but unsure grin on his face, hoping that the giant would understand. Marco, recognising the gesture, stood up mightily and gave his best salute that his body could muster. With a chuckle coming from Eren, he felt a rising feeling in his chest, almost overflowing with happiness and surprise.

“It really is you, isn't it Marco!” Armin cheered from his pile of parts and gears.

Eren lit up with realisation and began to grin.

“Don't worry, Marco! I'll keep you safe as best as I can!” Eren promised brightly.

Levi calmly strolled up to the titan and observed it carefully, detailing every muscle, bone matter and skin leading right up to Marco's face. With a sharp hand action, the soldiers detained Marco to the ground with ropes, scratching and rubbing into Marco's back. The titan's winces of pain were comforted by Jean, who immediately rushed to calm the struggling giant, taken aback by this act of hostility. Levi turned to Jean once again.

“Whether he's your friend or not, he's still a titan. I will hold you personally responsible if he wreaks havoc. And as for you.” Levi turned on his heel towards Marco, now sprawled across the grass, “Any wrong move, titan, and I won't hesitate to kill you. I can kill you just as easily as you can kill one of us. Do I make myself clear?”

Marco nodded, rubbing his face into the grass, collecting dirt.

“Good. Everyone inside. We don't want to bring any attention to us.” Levi ordered, pointing to a six metre class titan shuffling a good kilometre away. “One more note, Kirschstein. Don't you ever try to grab me by the collar again.”

Marco uttered a small squeak of worry as he watched everyone leave him outside in the setting sun. Jean turned back to his friend with a sorrowful look on his face.

“I'll be back soon, okay?” Jean reassured the fretting titan.

Jean slouched at the table with the rest of the soldiers, barely touching his food only to stare worriedly at the door leading outside. Hanji took note of his sour expression and dropped herself roughly beside Jean. Wrapping her arm around Jean and shaking him, trying to loosen him up, she sighed lightly and rolled her eyes over to him.

“Hey now, no one's making you stay here you know. It's not a bad idea to have someone outside watching for any deviants.” Hanji beamed. “If you want to be with your titan buddy, just go. I won't judge you. It's what I would do!”

Jean lifted his drooping face and stared back at Hanji in surprise. He immediately picked up his bowl of broth and unknown meats which he didn't want to question and briskly walked to the door, only to be halted by Levi right at the final stretch.

“Remember, any slip up with this titan and the blame's on your head.” Levi reminded before stepping aside to let Jean pass.

Marco stared glassy-eyed at the dirt as he drew random shapes and spirals with his finger. He heard the sound of a creaking door and tried to look up as best as he could with all of the restraints placed on him, which made him shuffle and wriggle to try and find a more comfortable position. Marco's eyes sparked with elation as he saw Jean stumble out the door, not caring about his spilled dinner. He carried a roll of bread in the other hand and almost ran to Marco's side. After Jean sat down next to the titan, purring happily while Jean tried to eat his food, he felt something brush through his hair gently. Turning around sharply to find the source, he relaxed to find Marco's hand hovering above Jean's head, the index finger lightly sweeping back and forth through Jean's now dishevelled hair. After finishing the contents of the chipped and worn down bowl, Jean discovered that he wasn't really all that hungry for the bread. Rather than risk it going mouldy over the next few days, he offered it to Marco, who gladly accepted the minuscule roll from Jean's outstretched hand. Marco opened his jaws and stuck out his tongue as best as he could, puffs of steam filling the air around the gap between his lips. Jean placed the little roll of bread on the titan's tongue and watched it venture inside Marco's mouth. Marco smiled peacefully and poked Jean's cheek as lightly as he possibly could. Jean, instead of swatting away the giant's fingers, instead embraced them by wrapping his arm around the top digit. Still holding on to the finger, Marco lifted Jean up and placed him closer to the titan's face. Jean let go of the finger and wandered up close to Marco's nose and started to rub the bridge affectionately. Marco purred even deeper, his mind in bliss. He began to whisper Jean's name over and over, each one getting longer and softer than the last one. Marco opened the palm of his hand, inviting Jean to sit. Jean looked up into the glimmering eyes of the titan and accepted his request, where he eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, Jean was woken up roughly by Hanji, who looked like she had interesting news for the both of them.

“So, Marco is it? Nice to meet you, I'm Hanji Zoe! I study titans like you to learn more about them. No no! Don't be scared, I won't hurt you anymore! It hurt me just as much as it hurt you to be in those restraints! Anyway, I have an idea which could help us in the future, and I need you and Eren's cooperation. Eren has already agreed to the idea, but I need your permission for this to go ahead. Are you interested in hearing about it?”

Marco nodded suspiciously.

“Great! Now, I have much to talk to you about...”


	7. Strength, Speed and Skill

Hanji clapped her hands together and rubbed them, her eyes darting between Marco and Jean. She flicked between the notes which she had scrawled, almost illegible to anybody else except herself. Hanji's glasses gleamed with enthusiasm and excitement as she prepared to tell the pair what her fantastic idea was.

“Alright! Marco, do you remember any time you spent in military training?”

Marco racked his titan brain for any scrap of a memory that he could muster. Thinking was harder nowadays. Unsuccessful, he shook his head apologetically. 

“Ah. Well, I could get someone to demonstrate for you. Wait – is that Eren? Perfect! Eren! I need you over here to show the boys something, do you have time?”

Eren's puzzled face slightly relaxed as he made his way over to the confused titan.

“Right, you two trained together and practised hand to hand combat, yes? Can you show Marco how it was done again?”

Jean grew more and more suspicious about the inner workings of the titan enthusiast's mind. He faced a determined Eren and raised his fists, ready for battle. Eren made the first move daringly and charged towards Jean, who deflected the incoming shifter with a smooth block by his forearm. After about thirty seconds or so of sparring, Eren reigned victorious, pinpointing Jean in a checkmate position. Hanji applauded their cooperation and called on Eren to stay here as she saw him make his leave.

“Does that spark something in that big titan brain of yours, Marco?”

Marco's hand wavered to indicate that he sort of remembered, but it wasn't clear.

“Good enough. Now, we want to take what you just saw, to a bigger scale!!” Hanji cheered.

Jean and Marco just stood there, mouths hanging open...at least Jean's was.

“That's right. Marco, we want you to start coming on expeditions with us! Since we'll be moving around a lot, we don't want to leave you behind! So, I had a chat with Levi and he approved of this little project as long as we do it a considerable distance away from the rest of the soldiers. We need you to get used to two things – moving around with us and fighting off any titans which stand in our way. For now, we'll be practicing fighting off titans, you'll get used to moving with us pretty quickly.” Hanji started to ramble. 

Marco tilted his head in curiosity. This didn't put off the chatty scientist.

“The idea of this whole project is for you and Eren in his titan form to practice sparring with each other to get ready for any deviant titans which could threaten us. Think of what you just saw Jean and Eren do, but instead of trapping them in a vulnerable position with your hand or whatever it is, the way you win is by managing to get your mouth above their neck. Don't go anywhere near the neck, just close enough to acknowledge that you've won. The referee will be yours truly. Are you interested, Marco?”

Marco looked down at Jean for any advice. Jean returned the glance with concern, only telling the titan that it was his choice to make. Marco shifted his gaze from his best friend to the scientist waiting in suspense for her answer. He thought about it for a few more seconds before nodding slowly, unsure if he would regret this decision.

“Excellent!! Now, there is something else which I need to know. Clearly, you are a deviant titan yourself. You're a reincarnation of a human who possesses some form of intelligence! According to my hypothesis, you could have some sort of special ability to accompany your new form! For example, Eren's titan form has exceptional strength for a titan of his class. To see if I'm correct, I'll need to run a few tests with you. We need to know exactly what you're capable of for the safety of the troops, we can't let a deviant titan run around unrestrained without knowing what it can do, I hope you understand.”

Marco and Jean were led to a series of boulders a good couple hundred metres away from the castle by Hanji. She carried a clipboard clutched tightly in her arms and she cleared her throat, glasses glimmering in the morning sunlight.

“The first test is a test of strength. You could have an abnormal strength compared to other titans I've studied. Can you lift up these boulders, starting from the leftmost one?”

Marco shuffled his way towards the first boulder, making sure Jean was a safe distance away before gripping his hands around the rough surface. Spreading his legs apart and bending his knees, he started to lift the monstrously sized boulder, the base starting to leave the ground. Groaning under the weight, Marco's knees buckled as he came crashing to the ground, tossing the boulder to cause an earth-breaking boom. Jean and Hanji collapsed to the ground from the shockwave of the collision, much to Marco's dismay as he tried to help Jean up with a gentle, yet shaking hand. Hanji adjusted her glasses and scrambled to find her clipboard and pencil before furiously scribbling down the results, her eyes burning with passion.

“...well, Marco. The results are that you are extraordinarily weak compared to the other titans. We'll leave the lifting to Eren, okay?” Hanji reported, a little flustered.

Marco rubbed the back of his neck, very embarrassed by the whole situation.

Hanji lead them to the next test, where she pointed out a long clearing with a broken wagon a good distance away. A dead marked their current position.

“Okay, the next test is a test of speed. I will be down near that tree with a pocket watch. Jean, take this spare one, it's synchronised to mine. Wait until the second hand reaches twelve and tell Marco to start running towards the tree as fast as he possibly can. I'll time him and compare him with some other titans I've noted over the years. You get all that? So go over near the wagon and Marco can wave me down when you're ready. Starting positions everyone!” Hanji announced as her voice faded away from the gallops of the horse leading her away to the dead tree.

Marco and Jean headed over to the wagon. After setting Jean down on top of the wagon, Marco waved Hanji down then waited for the second hand to strike twelve.

Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...

Marco grew nervous and crouched down, ready to start.

Four...three...two...

“GO!!” Jean shouted, his voice almost breaking.

The force of the titan's sudden takeoff almost blew Jean off the wagon, only to regain his balance at the edge. Hanji grew more and more excited as she saw the giant speeding towards the tree, only breaking contact with it to check the time on her watch. A great gust of wind knocked her off her feet, not even then taking her eyes off the watch. After hopping back on her feet, she turned to a curious Marco waiting for his results.

“Eh, not bad. You're not the fastest titan I've seen, but you're above the average. I guess that's because you put all of your energy into it, huh?” Hanji reported.

Marco turned his head to look back at Jean, who made himself comfortable on the wagon, looking up at the clouds. After giving into the begging of Hanji, Marco hoisted her up onto his shoulder and began to return to where Jean was relaxing. Marco turned his head as far as he could to look at Hanji and put his finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Hanji looked onto what the titan was doing, interested in his motives. Marco silently approached Jean, who was dozing off in the morning sun, and began to tickle him, startling the soldier and jolting him awake with roaring laughter. Hanji's eyes lit up with an epiphany and began to scrawl on her clipboard maniacally.

“Marco!” Hanji exclaimed, “Your stealth is exceptional! He didn't even notice you coming, even I couldn't hear your footsteps! But there is one more test that you have to do, but you won't like it. We need to test your regeneration speed.”

Marco's heart sank.

“Levi! You ready?” Hanji shouted to a short little soldier posed above the dead tree, hiding in its entanglement of branches and twigs.

He nodded and looked over at Jean.

“Don't worry, I'm not going to kill him. If we're going to test his regeneration speed, we're going to need to cut him up a little.” Levi reassured.

Marco whimpered and stared at the captain with fearful, cold eyes.

“I'm not going to kill you...Marco, is it? You could be a valuable asset to humanity. We can't afford to lose such a unique case.”

The soldier turned into a green blur as his 3DMG plunged into Marco's shoulder, the titan's cries of pain filling the clearing. The blur glistened with silver and red as he sliced Marco's flesh deep, the blood of the titan sending off clouds of steam with each drop. After an agonising thirty seconds of flesh being sliced and diced, Levi landed swiftly next to Hanji and peered over into her clipboard.

“Now we wait.” Hanji mumbled to herself while staring at her watch while Levi carefully analysed the giant's wounds.

Marco continued to whimper and wince with pain, his hand next to Jean. The soldier sat by it and rubbed it dearly, cooing the giant to calm down, soothing its cries. Their time together in peace was shattered by the cheers of amazement from Hanji.

“Marco! This is amazing! Your wounds have healed in record time, they were almost instantaneous! I think that's all the testing that we need to do, really. Your strength and speed aren't a real threat to us since it's about the same or even less than the average titan which is easily killed, but your stealth could prove very useful with us. Thanks for doing these tests, Marco.” Hanji congratulated.

Marco looked at Jean happily, trying to hold back a huge grin.

“If you want to cheer, Marco, go ahead. We'll block our ears.” Jean assured.

A great cheer erupted from the titan as his fist pierced the air in relief and high spirits. Hanji, Levi and Jean all glanced up at the celebrating giant, ears firmly covered. After Marco had calmed down, Jean hopped into the titan's hand and sat on his shoulder.

“Alright!!” Hanji cheered along, “There is still one thing that I have to see from you.”

Marco inquisitively peered down at Hanji.

“I need to see...whether you can effectively fight off a titan! Sure, you may have saved Jean earlier, but that was out of impulse and in a clearing. That was also with a regular titan, not a deviant. We need to see whether you can do it in a closed environment under simulated conditions. You will be practicing this by sparring with Eren in a sectioned off area in the forest of giant trees. We'll start that tomorrow, okay?” Hanji explained.

Later that night, Jean scooped up his dinner from the table and power-walked to the door outside, where an unrestrained Marco was peacefully sitting cross-legged, looking up at the stars. His head snapped down towards the door when he heard the familiar creaking and pitter-patter of Jean's boots on the stone. Marco's hand lay outstretched, lifting Jean carefully up to Marco's shoulder. Jean found a comfortable spot, leaning up against Marco's neck as he ate his dinner, growing sleepy from the warmth of Marco's body. Carelessly tossing the bowl and spoon off Marco's shoulder, landing in the grass with a soft thud, Jean stretched his arms before sinking in between muscles in Marco's neck, creating a reclined pose. He sat upright at the feeling of movement, watching the ground grow closer to him. Marco carefully removed Jean from his shoulder and set him down on the grass while the deviant titan laid himself out onto the grass. Marco's hand was still open for Jean to climb onto, fingers slightly trembling from muscle twitches. Jean took the invitation and ventured up the titan's arm to find himself on the moving chest, escalating up and down with the titan's breathing. Jean's eyes grew heavy with the comforting warmth and the soothing rocking of Marco's slow, calm breaths. Taking off his cloak, Jean laid down just underneath Marco's collar bones and fell asleep within minutes. Marco, feeling the chill of the night air fall upon them, picked up Jean's minuscule cloak and draped it around the exhausted human as a blanket. Stroking him lovingly, Marco himself closed his eyes and listened to the shrill sound of the crickets. Deciding that the cloak wasn't enough, Marco hovered his hand over Jean and softly cupped his hand around him. Smiling to himself, Marco could truly begin another night with his best friend.

He didn't care about the fact that he was a titan, a monstrosity to humankind anymore. All that mattered to him was that he was with Jean once more. 

If only he had a way to tell Jean.

With that thought, he sighed, tilted his head back and let his mouth hang open slightly, enjoying the crisp and beautifully clear night.


	8. Trapped

“Marco, pass me that huge toolbox over there would you?” Jean called over from a cloth covered in gears and a disassembled 3DMG.

Marco, not quite seeing how 'huge' this toolbox was, effortlessly picked it up and carefully set it aside Jean who rummaged through countless wrenches, screwdrivers and loose bolts from a range of other contraptions lost. Jean thanked Marco with a nod in the cross-legged giant's direction, blocking the morning sun with a raised hand. Armin came tripping out of the castle with a handful of parts for his own 3DMG maintenance on a separate cloth next to Jean's, a little nervous by the gentle titan's presence. Edging a little closer to Jean, Armin glanced up at the titan who inquisitively peered back down at the blonde strategist, trying his best to exhibit a look of kindness. Thinking that he appeared a bit too big, he very carefully laid down on his stomach, inching his face closer to the assembly of tiny cogs and tools. Armin took a gulp and rose from his work to try and get a closer look at Marco. Putting his hands up, Armin took one tiny step at a time towards the titan's face, seeing his face in the reflection of Marco's deep brown eyes.

“I just want to have a look up close, is that...okay?” Armin nervously asked.

Marco purred calmly while giving Armin a single nod.

“Don't worry about him, Armin. I'm close to him all the time, I'm sometimes up in his hands and on his shoulder. He's completely harmless. We've done tests on him and everything.” Jean reassured, watching on closely to see how this would unfold. “Want me to come over to put you at ease?”  
“Thanks, Jean. That would be great.” Armin sighed with a smile.

Jean hopped up onto his feet and casually strolled over to Marco, not a single stroke of worry hinted in the soldier's face. He placed a hand on the titan's nose, looking at Jean cross-eyed, and ushered Armin to stand beside him. Armin, still not entirely sure about what he was doing, began to catch up to Jean until he was face to face with the giant lounging out on the stone. Jean stared deeply into the titan's eyes as they drooped, almost like he was falling asleep. He began to purr deeply and rubbed a finger lightly on top of Jean's head, before he grabbed it and pulled it closer to his chest, arm wrapped around it before turning to Armin again.

“See? Totally harmless.” Jean chuckled.

Armin placed a shaking hand on the titan's nose, to emit giggle in amusement. Armin started to relax and have a laugh himself, before he circled around the titan's face, studying all of its exposed teeth, torn skin and muscles closely. Marco's eyes followed Armin in curiosity as he felt tiny fingers run down his skin and onto his teeth.

“Fascinating...” Armin sighed.  
“I know, isnt it?!” squealed a voice from behind him.

Jean, Armin and Marco all jumped back in fright to see Hanji beaming excitedly at the trio.

“I have some more news for you today! We've scheduled your sparring session with Eren in the late afternoon, when the weaker class titans are starting to falter. But, I have something else to tell you. Earlier this morning, we sighted a green flare a fair distance away. I'm assuming that's Commander Erwin and his squad, but the problem is that he doesn't know that you exist yet. So, we're going to need to do something about that...don't want to lose our new friend over here...” Hanji continued to babble on.  
“Wait,” Armin interrupted, “Commander Erwin? Does that mean Mikasa could be with him? We got separated on the way here and we heard that there was a second group not too far behind.”  
“Let's hope so, eh? She's worth a hundred soldiers, if I recall correctly.” Hanji pondered.  
“Mi..kaa..sa?” Marco asked.  
“Yeah, remember? She had black hair, top of the class?” Armin reminded Marco, who concentrated hard to remember the face.

Marco heaved himself to sit up on his knees, spent a few seconds thinking before he lit up with realisation.

“Hehh...Jeaaann...Mika...sa..” Marco started to tease.  
“You keep your big titan mouth shut!!” Jean snapped back, looking flustered.

Marco giggled and poked Jean lightly on the chest before he sat up alarmingly fast and turned his head to stare at something in the distance.

“What is it, Marco?” Jean asked, frightened by the titan's sudden movements.  
“Marco...you can sense the squad coming, can't you?” Armin deducted.  
“How did you figure that out?” Hanji questioned.  
“Well, I remember at the battle of Trost, we lured the titans to the wall by having a large group of humans hang there as bait. Titans are drawn to a large group of humans! Marco must be able to sense the squad on their way here, they must be nearby.”  
“But a regular titan couldn't possibly sense a group of humans from this distance!”  
“Well, Marco isn't a regular titan.” Armin continued, “His detection must have a bigger radius than others since he's a deviant.”  
“So you're stealthy, a fast regenerator and have an abnormally large detection radius...” Hanji thought to herself, “Marco, you're going to hate me for this, but we need to restrain you again. We'll be more gentle this time, I promise.”

Marco groaned with irritability as he felt the ropes tugged by the tiny soldiers scurrying around him bite into his back and wrists. A sheet was thrown over him in a hurry. The thundering gallop of horses grew increasingly louder, the determined and concentrated face of Erwin chiseled in the mid afternoon sun grew closer to the scientist while the squad leader folded his arms in interest. The squad came to a staggered halt as Erwin hopped off the now grazing horse with hope in his face.

“Any casualties?” Levi asked.  
“None seriously wounded, no deaths.” Erwin answered with a tinge of relief in his voice.  
“Commander Erwin! I have something which you need to be made aware of immediately. If you would follow me, please.”

Hanji lead the now curious commander towards the sheet under which Marco lay still as a rock. The chattering voices of the soldiers sparked worry in the titan as the unfamiliar voice grew more and more inquisitive as to what lay under the mysterious sheet.

“Jean!” Hanji called over to him at his 3DMG, “We're going to need your help for this. This is Commander Erwin. Sir, this is Jean Kircshtein, and he is a valuable asset concerning what I'm about to show you. Ready to lift the sheet?” she shouted to the soldiers standing up on the wooden scaffolding nearby.

“Sir, I present to you, Marco.”

After a hand signal by Hanji, the soldiers tugged on the wires of the 3DMG attached to the sheet and lifted it off in a graceful flurry. Erwin took a few steps back, trying to adjust his eyes to the deviant titan tied down at his feet.

“Commander Erwin, this is Marco Bodt, an ex-soldier who was deemed dead at the Battle of Trost. It appears he has been reincarnated into a deviant 15 metre class titan, which furthers the questions of where these titans are coming from. Marco possesses quite a large degree of intelligence, and after numerous tests performed on him, he has been deemed to be not a large threat to our forces. He is unusually weak in strength, slightly above average in speed, exceptional at stealth and his regenerating ability is almost instantaneous. His detection radius for humans is also larger than normal too. Jean Kircshtein was a friend of Marco before his passing, and Marco has recognised Jean and has become the titan's company. He is completely harmless to us, sir.”  
“I can confirm this. For the regeneration test, I was required to cut up the titan to see how fast he could heal. He sat there and took every cut I gave him, not fighting back in the slightest.” Levi added.

Erwin stroked his chin, deep in thought.

“Could he be an asset to humanity?” Erwin asked.  
“I'm positive sir. We are training him to fight other titans with Eren this afternoon. We have faith in his cooperation and has proven our trust when he is unrestrained.” Hanji answered confidently.  
“He's been unrestrained and hasn't tried to kill any of you?! I won't believe it until I see it.”  
“Would you like to, sir?”  
“Men! At the ready!” Erwin ordered.  
“No need for that, sir.” Jean intervened. “I can assure you, if there is anything that will keep Marco under control, it'll be my presence.”

Erwin peered down at Jean and glanced back at Marco.

“Release the titan.” Erwin ordered.

The ropes snapped under the titan's great strength as the knots were untied, freeing the gentle titan. Marco groaned and stretched his muscles from being tied down. Erwin stood motionless as Marco shifted himself to sit cross-legged, facing the soldiers staring right back up at him.

“Your name is Marco, is it not?” Erwin called up to the titan, seemingly unafraid.

Marco nodded.

“Will you help humanity overcome the titans?”

The titan nodded again.

“Jean,” Erwin asked, “are you his friend? I'll need to see whether he can interact with humans without injury.”  
“No problem sir. Marco, lift me up, would you?” Jean called up to the titan trying his best to behave himself.

Marco lit up with glee as he cautiously extended his hand out to Jean, climbing onto it worry-free. Feeling himself lifted higher and higher, he told Marco to lift him up close to his face. He placed a hand on Marco's nose and waved down to the scouting legion commander.

“Completely harmless, sir.” Jean confirmed while rubbing the bridge of the titan's nose affectionately.  
“Marco, come down to where I can see your face better.”

Unsure of what will come next, Marco placed Jean onto the ground and leaned down to his hands and knees, elbows bent to decrease his height to meet with Erwin. 

“I want you to know that I have invested some of my trust into you, and I trust that you will not betray that trust, if you have intelligence as Hanji says. I am Commander Erwin, head of the scouting legion. It is an honour to meet you Marco, and I hope we can work together in the future.” Erwin welcomed as he extended a hand out towards the titan.

Marco, wanting to return the gesture, held out his index finger on which Erwin grabbed and shook. A happy puff of steam escaped Marco's nose.

 

“Eren!! Armin!!” Mikasa cried out in joy as she ran towards the two sitting together by Armin's 3DMG. Faces lit up, they hopped up from their position on the floor and waved furiously at her.  
“Mikasa! I thought we'd lost you!!” Armin exclaimed.  
“Eren! Did they do anything to you? Dissect you? Did the short guy beat you up again?” Mikasa rambled as she inspected Eren for any damages.  
“No no, nothing else happened to me. But I am going in for some training with Marco later this afternoon.”  
“Marco? Isn't he...dead?”  
“Well yes, but-” Eren began but was cut off by Mikasa's alarmed gaze towards where Marco was held behind the castle.

She saw a 15 metre class titan arise from behind the stony walls.

“Titan!!” Mikasa spat before zooming off on her 3DMG.  
“NO WAIT MIKA-” Armin tried to say.

She was gone.

 

Marco heaved his enormous body off the floor to stretch his legs when he heard the hiss of gas and the sound of grappling hooks smash into the walls behind him. A soldier with black hair was speeding dangerously fast towards the nape of his neck, putting Marco on high alert. Doing the only thing that he could, he pulled the wire of the 3DMG, sending Mikasa into a freefall. He caught her and cupped her gently in his warm hands, trying not to cause too much of a shock from hitting his palms, much to his pain of feeling swords being stabbed into his soft tissue from Mikasa trying desperately to set herself free. Marco slowly guided his cupped hands onto the floor and opened them to let her out onto the pavement below, meeting the eyes of Erwin and Hanji.

“Sir, that titan-”  
“We're fully aware of it. It is completely harmless and is a valuable asset to humanity.” Erwin assured.

Mikasa glanced up at the titan, who was giving a military salute.

“Jean? Why are you here with this titan too?” Mikasa questioned.  
“Hanji, care to give an explanation?” Erwin asked politely.  
“Of course sir.”

After a good few minutes of blabbering from Hanji, Mikasa nervously glanced up at Marco once again, rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

“Marco...? Is that really you?” Mikasa could barely get the words out of her mouth.

Marco nodded.

“I'm sorry for...trying to kill you and stabbing your hands...” Mikasa continued to say, finding it so impossible to believe that she was apologising to a titan for trying to kill it.

Marco sat back down again, trying to not make himself look so large and terrifying to her.

“Right,” Hanji started, “It's almost time for your training session with Eren, Marco! You ready?”

Marco shook his head.

“Oh don't worry yourself too much, Eren will be gentle!” she joked around.

The late afternoon sun peeked its way through the entanglement and maze of branches, trunks and leaves in the forest of giant trees as the two titans stood face to face. Eren's glowing, emerald green eyes pierced right through Marco's faltering brown ones as Hanji was quivering in excitement, Jean looking onto them She flipped through her clipboard at a blurring speed, glasses shimmering with knowledge and with eccentric intensity.

“Alright you two! You know how to spar, right? There's no points or score, we just need you two to get used to defending yourselves against other titans!” Hanji called out to them.

Eren and Marco looked back at each other before returning to Hanji.

“Ready...”

Eren shifted his stance.

“Set...”

Marco tensed his muscles and glanced all around him.

“GO-WHAT THE HELL?!”

Deviant titans left and right came pouring into the battlefield, jaws slackened and wide open aiming for Eren, Hanji and Jean. Hanji and Jean retreated up to higher branches of the tree they were perched in as Marco and Eren flung all of their strength, sinking their teeth into the deviant's napes, careful of each other. Jean looked onto Marco, horrified as he tried desperately to save Eren from getting devoured. Jean attempted to jump down and help Marco, only to have Hanji pull him back.

“We have to get Eren out of there!!” Hanji exclaimed, her voice hoarse from yelling.  
“Marco!! Bite Eren out of the nape!” Jean shouted down to Marco.  
“Are you insane?!”  
“Trust me on this!”

Marco did exactly what Jean told him to, biting Eren clean out of the nape of the titan's neck, flesh dissolving around the boy's body. Hanji swung down, snatched Eren out of an outstretched hand and fled when the titans were too concerned with devouring Eren's dissolving titan body, while Jean jumped into Marco's hands before the titan made a run for it. Deviant titans emerged from behind the trees, closing them into a circle of titans, jaws wide open and edging closer to the human and titan. Marco looked down at a terrified Jean and brought his hand closer to his body, realising that they were after the human and not him.

They were stuck.


	9. Recovery

The trembling legs of Jean collapsed roughly into Marco's slightly sweating palm as the giant stood frozen amongst the gang of titans closing in. Strings of saliva hung from their yellowing teeth, emotionless eyes fixed upon Jean as the human slowly backed away further towards Marco's body, quivering with fright. Scared of my own kind, Marco bitterly thought to himself. No, I am not like them. I am Marco Bodt, I am NOT like those titans and I will protect Jean to the best of my ability! Marco looked down at Jean, who stared intensely at the incoming titans, shuffling slowly towards them. One wrong move, and they would all lunge upon him, also risking Marco to be killed if one of them bit Marco's nape. A spark in the back of Marco's mind signalled an idea, but he knew that Jean wouldn't like it.

“Jeaaaan..” Marco murmured.  
“Yeah, buddy?” Jean replied, seeming to have lost all hope with a serene, peaceful tone echoing in his voice.  
“I...protect..Jean.”

Jean's eyes began to sting as he began to hug a finger desperately. Tears began to stream one by one down his face, dampening the tip of Marco's fingers, the soldier's body shaking and heaving as he was ready to say his goodbyes. He felt Marco's free hand stroke down his back like a cat, in an attempt to soothe his weeping. 

“Don't worry, Marco. I'm ready to die. You couldn't fight off all those titans on your own, regardless whether you had me to worry about or not.”

Marco wouldn't have this attitude. After waving for his attention with a small wiggle of the fingers which Jean wasn't holding on to, he pointed to his temple and flicked his index finger up to the sky.

“You..have an idea?” Jean asked.  
“Mhmm..”  
“Well? What is it?”

Marco glanced to the titans trapping them and looked down at a curious Jean.

“Trust...Marco?” The gentle titan asked.  
“Of course I trust you, why wouldn't – wait...what are you doing, Marco??”

Jean felt the collar of his jacket lift up, being pinched by massive fingers that soon lifted him off Marco's palm. Why is he holding me like this? He would NEVER hold me like this! It's like he's trying to eat me! Jean thought frantically. Like he's trying to...eat...Jean?! The terrified soldier stared down at Marco, the titan's eyes glazed over as his jaws began to open like the gates to hell. Jean began to squirm, relentlessly shouting Marco's name, in a vain attempt to snap him out of this trance. Then, Jean saw something odd. The titan's tongue was rolled back, blocking the oesophagus off so that Jean...wouldn't fall down it? What the hell is going on? His boots touched the soggy muscle underneath the tongue as he realised what Marco was doing.

Marco was hiding Jean under his tongue, pretending to eat him.

Much to Jean's displeasure, the tongue of the titan rolled back over him, concealing him in a claustrophobic, wet prison. He felt the mouth vibrate as he heard a massive gulp! erupt from the titan's throat. After an agonising few seconds in suspense, the heavy footprints of the titans began to fade away, allowing Marco to take some steps of his own, still hiding Jean inside his mouth. Jean soon felt the giant's steps become heavier and more rapid, feeling the titan sprint out of the forest and headed for a beeline back to the castle. When Marco thought he was far enough away from the other titans, and checking for anymore surprises while his lethargy grew in the approaching night, he very gently spat out Jean into his hand, covered in titan saliva.

“Sorry...sorry..sooorrryy..!!” a flustered Marco continued to apologise over and over.

A very annoyed Jean waved off his apologies with a single hand.

“I understand the conditions under which you performed that stunt, but unless I know about it beforehand, don't ever do that to me again. You understand?” Jean lectured, wagging a saliva covered finger up into Marco's face.

The lethargic titan dragged its legs across the clearing, the only thing encouraging it was Jean firmly but gently grasped in his hand, holding him with a light monkey grip while Jean curled up into a ball inside the titan's hand to protect him from any other potential titans. Hanji was perched on one of the towers of the castle, scanning for any sight of the titan and Jean. Her glasses fogged up with tears when she finally spotted the pair, shuffling exhaustedly across the clearing, barely making it to the castle's paved stone before Marco collapsed onto his knees and fell onto his side, keeping his hands above the ground before letting Jean out safely onto the pavement. Hanji scrambled down to them while screeching their return, alerting Eren, Erwin and Armin to rush out the door, Mikasa halting in the doorway at the presence of Marco. Marco rolled onto his back, panting with his mouth hanging wide open, checking to see if Jean was okay out of the corner of his eye. Opening his hand, he felt Jean collapse into the heated palm of the giant, the human's steady but heavy breathing putting Marco at ease. Tears began to brim in Marco's eyes, rolling down his cheeks to splash onto the stony floor.

“Jeaaaan..!” Marco wailed to his friend.  
“I'm fine, Marco...man, you can be a big baby, you know that?” Jean comforted.  
“Jean! Marco!” Eren blurted out stumbling towards them, “Are you alright? How did you escape? Why are you covered in titan spit? But how did I get away and you guys didn't?” Eren stammered, clearly speaking with his heart and not his head.  
“Marco saved you. I told him to bite you out of the nape and Hanji got you out of there.”

Eren was speechless.

“You risked your own lives...to save me?” Eren mumbled.  
“Mhmmm..” Marco replied with a small smile.  
“And as for us escaping,” Jean continued, “Marco pretended to eat me to fool the other titans.”  
“He WHAT?! Is THAT why you're covered in...that stuff?” Armin interjected.  
“Hey, if I had to be in a titan's mouth, I'd prefer Marco's.” Jean replied coolly.

Later that night, Jean performed his usual routine of collecting his dinner and immediately going to sit outside with Marco. Marco was still stretched out onto his back, stargazing when he heard the all too familiar door creak and the same old clicking of boots on the stone. Marco sat up with some energy leftover and offered out his hand, lifting Jean onto his shoulder where the soldier sat between the muscles and folds of skin, taking off his boots before dropping them off onto the stone, relaxing in the titan's warmth.

“You know, Marco...I joined the scouting legion because of you. I didn't want to make your death worthless. But I wouldn't have thought in the slightest, that I would ever see you again, a titan or not. And even though that you are stuck as a titan, I couldn't have been happier to see you again. Whether you are a titan or not is irrelevant to me now, all that matters is that I have Marco back.”

Marco, completely blown away, ushered Jean onto his hand and lifted him up closer to his face. Seeing his reflection in Marco's sleepy brown eyes, Jean rubbed the bridge of the titan's nose slowly and lovingly, while not breaking contact with Marco's gaze. A hand cupped around the back of Jean as Marco went in and nuzzled Jean with the tip of his nose. Jean, originally fighting off the advances of the titan, eventually gave in and let Marco nuzzle him all he wanted, while still rubbing his nose with a roughness that would come with a brotherly ruffle of hair. But this wasn't enough for Marco. He wanted to be have Jean's arm wrapped around him again, to stare face to face with him and not have to look down or hold his fragile body in his lethal hands. He wanted to hug Jean again, to have Jean tackle him from behind again. Jean noticed these thoughts rushing through Marco's mind, his eyes losing the glimmer which they had before.

“What's wrong, Marco?”

Marco looked away shyly.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Marco shook his head slowly before placing Jean on the ground. He pointed to his chest and guided his hands to gesture the rest of his body. He stretched his arms out to the side, making himself look bigger to try and illustrate his woes to Jean.

“You...don't like being a titan.” Jean concluded.

Marco nodded and looked away sadly. Jean sighed and placed a hand on Marco's toe, craning his neck to look at the miserable titan.

“Look, Marco. I'm sure it isn't easy being a titan and I understand how frustrated you must be. I must be so fragile to you, one wrong move could easily kill me in your hands. But don't you ever forget this in your big titan brain, okay? Inside that massive body of yours, is the soldier from the 104th trainees squad, Marco Bodt. I mean sure, you can't wrap an encouraging arm around me like you used to, nor can we walk side by side down to the army barracks where we would annoy everyone else by chatting all night long, those days are gone now. But what is here, is your spirit, Marco. Don't forget that you saved my life, twice. I wouldn't be standing here, giving you this talk if you weren't there to save me from that titan in the clearing. You may be a titan, but you are still my best friend. You are still Marco Bodt, and I still care about you just as much as I did back in the trainees squad. Turn that big titan frown around, if not for yourself, for me okay?”

Jean felt the ground sweep away from him by Marco's trembling hands, the titan's tears streaming down the cracks and tears in his face while he hiccuped softly from his sobs.

“Come on, Marco. Give me the biggest smile you can! I won't be scared, I trust you completely.” Jean encouraged.

Marco gave Jean the biggest grin his face could muster, teeth peeking through the torn skin in his cheeks.

“That's right! Feel any better, big guy?” Jean asked brightly.

Marco nodded, still grinning, his smile only getting wider as his hiccuped sobs grew more violent.

“Shh..come on now, Marco. Calm down. You'll be alright, I'm still here.” Jean softly cooed, stroking Marco's cheek where the tears didn't run.  
Hushing him into a sleepy state, Marco let Jean off his hand onto the ground and laid back onto the stone, his energy completely run out. Jean, deciding that he would sleep in his own bed, walked calmly over to Marco's hand and gave him a light peck on the tip of his thumb. Marco groaned, realising that Jean would not stay with him that night, but he realised that he would get sick if he stayed out here too many times with him. Jean picked up on Marco's disappointment before turning around to him and smirking, rolling his eyes.

“Alright, alright. Just let me get changed into something more comfortable, okay? This uniform isn't the best thing to be sleeping in.”

After Jean came outside wearing a loose, long sleeved shirt and a pair of large pants, dangling around his ankles, Jean curled up in Marco's hand and began to fall asleep almost immediately, exhausted from his near death experience, the heat from Marco's hand pacifying him into a deep slumber. Marco peered down at Jean before giving him a small smile and drifting off to a sleep-like state, still awake yet delving into his mind, in which he only thought of Jean, as his body lay peacefully at rest. 

 

[Oh my! Over 50 followers in a span of about a month?! This is insane! Thank you to everyone who has followed so far and I hope you continue to enjoy the fanfiction. Due to exams and whatnot, updates may be less regular than usually and it could be a couple of weeks before the next one. I'm so sorry! But hey, I'll be working on it, bits and pieces at a time so it's ready in a fair amount of time.]


	10. Day Off

Here he was again. Stuck back at the castle while the rest of the scouting legion were off on their merry way slaughtering unsuspecting titans, with the odd soldier performing maintenance work inside the castle. Jean sighed in annoyance, stretched out onto the grass staring at the clouds, bored out of his mind. Why was he stuck here again? To babysit the titan with an undying curiosity. Not that he minded, he didn't really want to be in the face of another titan except Marco's, of course. It was better that he keep his mind distracted by watching over Marco rather than fret about his comrades out on the mission and make himself sick, which would end up worrying Marco too in a domino reaction. It had been a few weeks since he and Marco reunited, and in that time, Marco had discovered that his old friends from the 104th trainees squad had joined the scouting legion, such as Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha and Connie, and had met many of them with childish excitement, not being discouraged by their looks of horror to begin with one bit. Now that they were off on an expedition, leaving Jean and Marco alone at the castle, the pair had no idea what to do with their time.   
Jean lazily rolled his head to the side, the grass pricking his skin lightly as he watched Marco wander aimlessly across the fields from afar, staring up at the clouds seemingly lost in thought. Jean sighed once again and turned over to the other side and shut his eyes to try and relax even for a moment. He felt the heavy steps of a titan come towards him, yet after experiencing a mini heart attack, he had come to recognise that these were Marco's steps while his body was washed over with a sense of relief. Marco roughly sat down beside Jean with a large thump and copied Jean by stretching his massive body out onto the grass, Jean completely unaffected by his movements by this point in time. Marco let out a long and frustrated sigh, Jean instantaneously understanding what was going in.

“I know, Marco. I'm bored too. Levi told us to clean the dining room, but he ended up doing it anyway before he left because he 'didn't think I would do a good job'. So now we have nothing to do.” Jean droned.

Marco groaned and turned away from Jean, facing the forest of giant trees not so far away.

“Well, we could play a game or something..” Jean began, grabbing Marco's attention as he hurriedly turned back around to face the human. “Hide and seek? Nah, that's unfair for you. We can't really play tag without you killing me. Oh! How about charades?”

The titan happily sat up, legs crossed as he inquisitively stared down at Jean.

“I'll take it as a yes. Do you remember how to play this game? You pick a word, it can be anything from just a normal object to the title of a book or whatever. You then have to act out the word, you can't say what it is. I don't think you're allowed to talk at all, which works for you I guess. You interested?”

Marco nodded excitedly.

“Alright, why don't you start first?” 

Marco wrung his hands, racking his brain for a word to start off with. Suddenly thinking of one which will hopefully be a tricky one, Marco pointed one finger up to the sky, with Jean's full attention.

“So, one word?”

Marco nodded and began to smooth his hair to show a part from the right side of his face, much to Jean's confusion. Marco then began to pull a sour expression and crouch down a little bit. Jean still a bit puzzled, the titan then began to imitate cleaning windows and dusting.

“...Levi?!” Jean burst out, roaring from laughter.

Speaking of cleanliness, Jean did notice a layer of dirt and dust build up on Marco's skin. No wonder Levi wouldn't go near him in the last few days. Marco, wondering what Jean was inspecting so intensely, purred in curiosity as to what Jean's intentions were.

“Marco, you're filthy! You need to get cleaned up before Levi gets back and sees you like this. We need to get you nice and clean down at the pond nearby. I'll just go let the soldiers know inside fixing the creaky stairs that we'll be gone for a bit.”

After a few minutes inside, Jean casually strolled out and hopped onto Marco's hand, making himself quite comfortable by sitting in the middle of his palm.

“Over that way.” Jean directed with a faint smile on his face.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached the still, crystal clear water of the pond. Marco dipped a toe in carefully, shuddering at the chilling sensation of the water dampening the top of his foot. After a daring leap, he jumped straight into the middle of the pond, creating a large splash which rained down on Jean like he was in the middle of a storm. Jean sighed and slicked back his now soaked hair and removed his boots and shirt. His wet, muscular body glistened with droplets of water from the mid morning sunlight streaming its way through the hole in the canopy above the pond, stretching his arms up and to relaxing. Marco started to cup water in his hands and rubbed the dirt off his body, already making a big difference in terms of appearance. His skin and muscle became more alive with a glow from the water, Marco turning back to Jean who was closing his eyes, his arms behind his head. A smirk made its way across Marco's face as he silently cupped another handful of water in his enormous palms. He slowly moved the cupped water over the tiny, fragile figure of Jean, trying desperately to hold back giggles. Jean however, knew what shenanigans Marco would pull off, and came to the conclusion that he was about to be soaked with cupped water when the warmth of the sunlight was blocked out by the shadows of Marco's hands.

“I swear, if you do what you're about to do, I won't spend the night with you.” Jean threatened, not opening an eye.

Marco hesitated, but his smirk grew even wider as he let the waterfall from his hands be dumped onto Jean. Coughing and spluttering, Jean jerked up from his reclining spot and glared up at the titan, playfully giggling. Jean, about to give Marco a very long lecture, saw the glimmer in the titan's eyes and the genuine happiness in his toothy grin. He couldn't stay mad at Marco, the way he laughed and tried to cover his mouth as he slightly blushed and turned away from Jean was too adorable to get angry at. The remnants of Marco's humanity shone through the monstrous titan body as he smiled and laughed, and that's what really put Jean at peace. After hearing a gunshot and seeing a green flare arise into the sky, Jean called out to Marco and said it's time that they head back. Marco held Jean in a cup formed in his hands, as he tried to tell Jean insistently that he could slip out. They soon walked together alone back to the castle, to their delight, to see all of their friends alive and well. Hanji beamed at them, her glasses reflecting the sunlight, bursting with enthusiasm and news. Marco let Jean down onto the ground and gave the soldier a small ruffle before directing his attention to Hanji, who seemed like she had some interesting news to give to them.

“Alright you two. I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”


	11. Going Home

“We're going back.” Hanji stated abruptly.

Silence rippled through the soldiers gathered around the titan. Jean felt his heart sink and lay at the bottom of his stomach. Marco, unsure of how to perceive this news, glanced down at Jean, who was displaying a stunned yet terrified look on his face.

“Like...as in, going back inside the walls?” Jean stammered, barely audible.  
“Yep.” Hanji confirmed. “But we have a problem on our hands. What will we do with Marco?”  
“We'll have to leave him out here.” Levi contributed, “We can't just waltz inside the walls with Marco like some sort of parade.”

Marco, being overwhelmed by the thought of him stranded out on his own in titan territory, had to sit down from dizziness. Jean leaned on Marco's leg while comprehending all of this news. He would have to leave Marco by himself.

“Jean, I know you're worried about Marco. Don't be though, Marco's a titan! He can take care of himself, can't he?” Hanji encouraged.

Marco nodded while trying to force a smile on his face.

“Besides, this is the scouting legion, remember? We come outside the walls all the time! You'll definitely see Marco again.” Hanji beamed while putting an arm around Jean.

Jean smiled slightly at the thought, hoping he'll survive the trip back inside the walls, let alone live long enough to see Marco again if anything happens on the way to him. Marco placed a hand beside Jean, fingers curled up, relaxed and pointing towards the human, numb from the shock of Jean's departure. Jean placed his hand on the top digit of Marco's finger while watching Hanji think, her glasses flashing in the mid-afternoon sunlight. She lit up with inspiration as she turned back to Marco, an idea brimming out of the frames of her glasses.

“Marco, there is one more thing you can do for us.”

Marco's head tilted, interested in what Hanji had to say.

“On the way here and most likely on the way back, we encountered many titans who attacked us, causing us to change course and be delayed. If you could watch our backs for us and take out any titans that are nearby, we would be very thankful.”

Marco accepted the offer almost instantly.

“Fantastic! I'll teach you the smoke signals that we use to navigate out here...”

Jean went up to his room to gather his stray uniforms and extra parts from his 3DMG that were scattered across the floor. Sighing deeply, he looked out the window to see a concentrating Marco, intrigued with the different colours of smoke being shot into the sky. A knock at the splintering door started Jean as he spun himself around, flustered to greet whoever it was. It was Eren, with an oddly calm look on his face.

“Jean,” Eren called, “It's time to leave.”

The thundering gallop of the horses filled Jean's ears, drowning out the sound of the shrill calls of the flock of birds soaring above them. Marco jogged back behind the formation, keeping a careful eye out for any flares. A red flare pierced the brilliant blue sky towards the east of the formation. Marco took off in a sprint, the horses become a blur as he pinpointed the location of the titan swiftly. He lunged towards the ten metre class which endangered the soldiers and rammed it to the ground, the earth shaking with each collapsing giant. Gripping the titan by its hair, Marco bit the nape of its neck straight out of it, its vacant expression being slammed face first into the muddy ground below it as its body disintegrated into nothing. Marco spat out the steaming nape and fell back behind the formation, ready to strike again. After a few hours later, the silhouette of the walls came into view. Marco stopped in his tracks, astonished by the fifty metre tall walls which encaged humanity...

...and the fifty metre tall colossal titan that was about to break them down.

The deafening sound of brick and debris smashing into houses accompanied by the chorus of screams from the humans within invaded Marco's titan hearing, their anguish and agony drowning out almost all logical thought. Titans from all directions came swarming into the newly-opened hole, saliva dripping from their plaque encrusted teeth as their jaws opened wide with vacant, unforgiving eyes. Marco couldn't just stand around for much longer. He broke out into a desperate sprint towards the hole, against the commands that were screamed and shrieked at the titan, which only fell on deaf ears. Marco burst through the hole and frantically scanned around for any humans who were still salvageable and in good enough condition to be rescued. He sensed a group of four humans who were taking refuge upstairs in a house nearby. Noticing that the other titans hadn't picked up their presence yet, Marco peered through the window to discover a woman and three young children all cowering in a corner, eyes red from tears and bodies trembling violently from fear. Realising that they weren't going to move unless he did something drastic, Marco reluctantly tore the front wall of the house off, revealing a doll's house cross section of the building, to the sound of wails and screeches from the family. Marco reached out to them and cupped them in his hands as they wriggled and struggled to be free from his grip. Noticing that the humans were all scrambling towards the one exit, Marco dodged the fallen structures and stray titans to drop the rescued humans safely off at the evacuation point. After reaching the entrance to the next wall, Marco very gently placed the family down, only to have them look back at him in pure terror, yet a sense of curiosity arose from the humans. Marco ushered them to go with a wave of his hand, while he easily took care of the titans who he managed to attract by running past them with humans in his care. The soldiers who were stationed at the evacuation point merely stood there, baffled, unsure whether to attack. By the time they had made their decision, Marco had once again ran off to find more humans to save.

“Commander Erwin!!” Hanji screamed over the commotion, “What do we do??”  
“Levi, Hanji, take your squads and help Jean find Marco! I'll take my squad to eliminate any intruding titans! If you see any humans, direct them to the exit immediately!”

Jean, being the master of 3DMG, gracefully glided and dodged the titans pouring in through the gaping, crumbling hole in the wall, hoping to recognise Marco within the gigantic crowd. Short of breath, his eyes darted while his mouth grew dry with worry and fear as he saw the horrifying sight of innocent citizens scrambling for their lives. Weaving in and out between the giants, Jean thought he had spotted a familiar titan over by the eastern side of the city. Zooming past the wreckages of buildings, he almost reached his friend until a wire on his 3DMG was snagged by a giant hand. Spiralling towards the ground at a terrifying speed, Jean wriggled around to see the titan about to devour him. The beast lifted Jean up to its eye level, its own eyes meeting Jean's watering ones. Never has Jean been more relieved to see that pair of brown, sunken eyes framed by a face of freckles.

“Marco!! Don't do that to me buddy! What the hell are you doing?!”  
“Humans...I protected..them.”

Jean shook his head in confusion and glared back up at Marco.

“Look, tell me later alright? Just get out of here!”  
“No, Jean. Humans...people...in danger.”

If this were any other situation, Jean would have been impressed with Marco's improvement in pronunciation. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small boy curled up in terror in the middle of Marco's palm. Jean looked back up at Marco again with a look of amazement.

“Marco, you're rescuing civilians?”  
“Mhmmm.”

Jean snapped out of his trance and directed his titan friend to head for the exits while the small human sitting on his shoulder looked behind him to see titans falling one by one to the hands of Levi, Erwin and the rest of the scouting legion. Marco crouched down slowly and gently ushered the small boy off his hand, the tiny feet barely shuffling due to pure shock and disbelief. Jean swung down and provided the boy with a hand to hold as he guided him out the doors of the wall. The click of a loading gun against Jean's head caused the unknowing soldier to freeze. While the hiss of gas from the 3DMG of the military police surrounded him and Marco. Marco, not wanting to make the situation worse, cautiously stood upright with his arms at his sides, relaxed. Knowing that making a run for it would not be the smartest idea in this situation, he stayed completely still, ignoring the threats made by the military police while he urgently listened out for the voice of Commander Erwin. The voice of a high ranking superior of the police sent shivers down Marco's spine.

“Now...who are you, titan shifter?”


	12. Fear Of The Unknown

The blend of hatred and condescension in the superior's voice violently trembled down Marco's spine, the pitilessness and disgust of his gaze striking fear into the titan. Marco soon learned that this was Nile Dok, commander of the military police, who was now pointing a rifle straight up between the giant's eyes.

“Commander Dok!” a soldier exclaimed from a rooftop near Marco's right shoulder, “Sir, this titan...it's not interested in us! What do we do?!”  
“That titan has to be a shifter! No titan should possess that much intelligence. Soldiers! Don't treat this monster as a human! He's a titan and nothing more than a killing machine.”

Marco gave a downcast, insulted glance towards Jean, as Nile noticed the desperate plea for help radiating from the titan's eyes. Swiftly commanding his soldiers to detain Jean, Nile pointed a rifle to the back of Jean's head, causing Marco to shuffle uncomfortably. Realising that Jean could be used to manipulate Marco into doing his bidding, Nile hovered a finger over the trigger of the rifle, the titan become more and more unsettled. Steam clouds started to billow and shroud the titan's body, his confusion fuelling more steam to engulf the soldiers. He knew full well that making a impulsive move around military police soldiers, especially while their commander is on the ground, not a far distance from the titan's feet, would be disastrous. Marco's distressed breathing grew heavier and quicker, trying to hold back making any drastic moves to try and rescue Jean. Before he reached his breaking point, a voice in the steam put him at ease as a sense of relief washed over him.

“Marco, calm down.” Erwin rang from somewhere within the clouds of steam.  
“You..!!” Nile spat. “Are you working with the titans now, are we? You traitor to humanity!”  
“Quite the contrary.” Erwin clarified as he swung down to confront Nile, “This titan is working with us and possesses no threat to humanity. Did you not see how many civilians he rescued?”  
“Erwin! Have you lost your mind? This is a titan! And this soldier of yours is in hijinks with it!”  
“Allow me to explain the situation. Hopefully the circumstances will be better understood.”  
“The only place where you can explain your situation is in trial! We will be detaining this titan shifter and putting it on trial to decide on its fate. And I know how to make it cooperate.” Nile threatened, lightly tapping the end of the rifle against Jean's head.

Erwin turned back to Marco after placing himself on a rooftop adjacent to the titan's face. The collected expression of the commander put Marco's furiously pounding heart to rest. 

“Marco, listen to me. Do whatever they say. Do not attempt to fight back or escape, you will be alright. I will ensure your safety with us.” Erwin promised with a smile.

After tying Marco's limbs to various wagons and covering the titan in a number of sheets, the military police managed to bribe the high-end security of Wall Sina to let them pass free from inspection. After much prodding and stabbing, they forced Marco through barn-sized doors into a spacious, warehouse-type bunker, originally used for an emergency titan shelter before discovering how they are lured to large groups of humans. Chaining the titan's arms to the walls, Nile threatened Jean's death if he attempted to escape, leaving Marco helpless inside the now cramped shelter. Hours passed and the soldiers guarding it outside started to complain about the sounds of tossing and turning, sighing and the thumps of a titan adjusting his position to try and find some sort of comfort on the unforgiving stone-paved floor.  
Meanwhile, Jean was handcuffed and blinded while being dragged to a prison block somewhere underneath the maze of Wall Sina. Roughly thrown into the cell with his hands freed uncaringly by the military police guards escorting him into the filthy room, Jean scrambled to the bars and tried to desperately plead for any information regarding Marco's state, his only answer being the echo of a desperate soldier bouncing off the walls. Every painfully slow minute which ticked by grew more and more unbearable for the soldier as Jean slumped on the dusty prison floor, his mind being overwhelmed with worry over Marco and his current situation. He had no idea where Marco was, what was happening to him or whether he was still alive at all. After a few more hours passed, a messenger from the military police confronted the guards stationed at Jean's cell. With the imprisoned member of the scouting legion squirming to return to his friend, the clang and jingle of the keys was the sound of his freedom, ringing gloriously in his ears. Being shoved out of his cell by the condescending guards, Jean began his long and unbearably slow walk to a destination unknown. The sunlight burned his unadjusted eyes as he was lead out into the broad daylight of the mid afternoon. He began to notice that he was being lead towards what seemed to be an out of use warehouse. Four guards were stationed outside of the barn doors, locked and chained tightly.

“This is the guy?” The first guard asked, his voice tainted with annoyance.  
“Thank god he's here. This thing hasn't shut up since we locked it in here. We were told to take off the chains around its arms, as it might agitate it more than we want it to.” The second guard complained.  
“That thing...you mean Marco?! He's in here?!” Jean exclaimed, a little too loudly.

An enormous shuffle sounded from inside the building.

“Hurry up and get him in there. We don't want this thing tearing down the building trying to get to him.” The first guard ordered to the other three guards frantically trying to unlock the door. 

After the heavy chains which sealed the doors fell to the stone floor with a crash, the barn doors opened to reveal the titan curled up in a foetal position on the other side of the room. Jean cautiously shuffled into the abandoned shelter, barely lit up only by the flickering flames of torches, their glow dancing off Marco's skin and muscle, creating an eerie silhouette of the titan's enormous body. Marco's head lethargically moved towards the door and a single eye slightly opened to see who would be crazy enough to want to enter the same room as a titan.

“Marco...it's me.” Jean called out, his voice shaking like a leaf in the wind.

The oversized body of Marco unfolded from its curled up position and snapped upright outstandingly fast, the titan's legs folded and crossed to conserve on space. An emotional Marco began to heave and almost laugh from relief, his deep, booming titan voice mixed with a young man's youthful tone echoed around the room, as Jean broke out into a sprint towards Marco's outstretched, trembling hands. Jean leaped from the dusty stone floor onto Marco's fleshy palms, but he rolled his ankle and stumbled forward when landing on the softer skin, landing face first into the top of Marco's wrist. After he embarrassingly collected himself up off the titan's arm, he became aware of his new, frightening height from the ground and turned back towards the joyfully lit up eyes of the gentle titan.

“Marco!! Thank god you're safe. Did they do anything to you?” Jean blurted out, question after question rolling off his tongue.  
“No, they did nothing.” Marco said endearingly, with a hint of confidence found in his pronunciation improvements. “Jean, don't worry...I'm fine.”

Jean breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Listen, Marco. We have major problems now. From what I overheard, the military police are acting out of fear and are jumping to conclusions about you and the entirety of the scouting legion's intentions. They plan to put you on trial in about an hour to decide whether you live or die. But the way things are now, your chances of living are very slim. Whatever happens in this trial, you have to be extremely careful with what you do and what you attempt to say. Understand?” Jean lectured with a worried tinge.

Marco nodded solemnly.

The late afternoon sun shone brilliantly across the crumbling amphitheatre outside of a fortified castle on which the trial was to be held, as Marco was too large to fit inside the regular courtroom. The titan cast an eerie shadow across the courtyard, almost resembling his fate in a gloomy omen as he made his way to the military police guards with chains ready in their hands. Each rumbling, heavy step Marco took silenced the crowd of soldiers and officials as their frightened and confused murmuring was put to rest by the titan's stride. On Marco's shoulder sat Jean, who stared back at the crowd with emotionless, void eyes. Marco nodded to the guards ready to detain him to hopefully display a message of cooperation, but was returned with cold glances and slightly shaking knees. He very slowly sat down with his legs crossed, holding out his arms ready to be cuffed. Scanning the crowds who shunned him, Marco managed to find Levi, Hanji and his comrades in the scouting legion watching intensely from the middle rows of the amphitheatre's seating. Following Marco's path not too far behind was Commander Erwin, his collected expression being a beacon of hope in the titan's situation. From a balcony not too far above ground emerged an elderly man, to which the military personnel saluted. 

“Darius Zackly. Head of all of the military.” Erwin explained to Marco. “He will decide what happens to you today. I will do all I can to persuade him to spare you.”

Darius adjusted his glasses as he rolled up his sleeves with a grim expression as he laid his eyes upon Marco for the first time. He furrowed his brows, trying to comprehend both his and Marco's current situation. 

“Titan shifter, remove yourself from that body so we may trial you in your human form.” Darius ordered calmly.  
“I'm afraid that's not possible.” Erwin intervened, “See, this titan is not a shifter, but rather a deviant titan.”

A shocked murmur rippled through the crowd.

“Are you saying,” Nile began, “that you brought a deviant titan into WALL SINA?!” he finished furiously.  
“I brought it in? I recall that it was your branch that transported Marco inside.” Erwin retaliated smoothly, “Sir, if I may explain the situation to you.” Erwin asked of Darius, ignoring Nile's further remarks.  
“Go ahead, Erwin.” Darius droned.

Erwin cleared his throat and furrowed his brows in concentration while Marco watched on, his stomach knotting in nervousness.

“Sir, this titan is a reincarnation of a former soldier in the 104th trainees squad who died in the battle of Trost. His name is Marco Bodt, and he is completely docile. He poses no threat to humanity.”  
“And you expect us to believe that?!” Nile interrupted.  
“That is why I asked Keith Shardis to collect the files on Marco beforehand.” Erwin replied coolly, pulling out a folder from underneath his scouting legion cloak, “As you can see, many of his facial features captured in this portrait of Marco before his death reflect the facial features in the titan sitting before you. Jean Kirschtein, a close friend of Marco, can verify the identity of this titan and can prove that Marco is harmless.”  
“I'm sorry Erwin, but we can't do that.” Nile retaliated, “Mr Kirschtein's testimony is too biased towards this titan's survival. Sir, a titan is a titan, and I say we execute it before it gets the chance to exterminate us all. Considering how close Kirschtein is to this titan, how do we know that he isn't a titan posing as a human?!” Nile continued, clearly letting his fear think for him.

Marco had had enough of this bickering. He cleared his throat loudly enough for the entirety of the courtyard to give him their full attention.

“Enough.” Marco snapped.

A stunned silence hung over the crowd.

“It talks?!” Nile hissed to Erwin.  
“Let me finish.” Marco shot back at Nile.

Now that the courtyard was truly silent, Marco could finally state his case.

“Sir, may I?” Marco asked Darius before continuing. 

With a face displaying pure surprise, Darius barely nodded before letting Marco continue.

“My name is Marco Bodt, from the 104th squad.” he began, pronouncing every word slowly and carefully, “I do not remember how I came to be a titan. I did not remember being a human at first, until I rescued Jean outside the walls. Do with me what you will, but I ask one thing.”  
“Which is?” Darius enquired.

Marco stared at Darius dead in the eye.

“Do. Not. Touch. Jean.”

Nile couldn't believe what he was hearing. A titan? Begging for mercy and for the life of his precious friend? He wouldn't have it. He turned around to look behind his shoulder and lifted his hand, giving off a signal to guards stationed up on the very tops of the amphitheatre. Flares of blood red painted the sky as soldiers soared out of nowhere and beelined straight towards the titan caught off guard. Marco, not knowing what else to do, grabbed onto the wires of the soldier's 3DMG, spiralling them out of control as they all tangled with each other. Apologising softly to them, he set them down on the ground as gently as possible, with each soldier staring back up at him in disbelief.

“Commander Dok,” Darius began, “Did you actions seem necessary to you? You could have executed a valuable human ally.”

Jean and Marco beamed at each other in joy. 

“But, Marco.” Darius continued, “I will grant your survival, but I forbid you to enter the walls under any circumstances.” 

Jean's heart sank once again, thinking about the next time he will see Marco. Not for a few months, probably. Marco could see the distracted gaze in Jean's eyes as he gave the tiny soldier a gentle nudge with his index finger, snapping Jean out of his daydream. After speedily assuring Marco that he was fine, Marco stared back out over the walls to see a bolt of lighting strike roughly outside Wall Rose, a large column of smoke and steam rising from its location. With everyone else witnessing this mysterious event, they all remembered that while they were so caught up with Marco's discovery, that they didn't realise that the wall was still breached, with backup forces still fighting with their lives on the line to keep the intruding titans at bay. Erwin saw this as a rare opportunity.

“Sir, this onslaught is the perfect chance for Marco to prove his allegiance to humanity. If you let him participate in the resistance, he will prove to be an excellent soldier and a valuable asset to humanity's continued survival.”

After a few seconds of intense thought, Darius nodded in approval. Determined to prove his worth, Marco scooped up Jean and placed him on his shoulder, ready for a fight.

“Jean, are you ready?” Marco asked, his voice ringing with passion.

Jean smiled back at his partner and gazed out towards the battlefield.

“Let's go.”


	13. Chance

“Right,” Erwin sighed as he pulled out an aging map of the three walls. Jean peered at the map suspiciously with Marco hovering curiously over the top of the humans below.   
“During this whole ordeal with Zackly, I told Pixis to gather the Garrison and guard the wall before we arrived in Sina, killing any titans that attempted to get through the hole that the colossal titan created in Wall Rose. He should have evacuated any remaining citizens and now we plan to draw the titans out of the walls and lure them towards an abandoned castle a far enough distance away from the wall for a mass execution.”  
“But it took us hours as it is to get here, sir. And the trial used up even more time.” Jean commented. “We don't know how the Garrison have held up. The town could be completely overrun with titans at this stage because the higher-ups have their priorities all mixed up with Marco's trial.”  
“Then it is our job to make sure that no more titans will enter.” Erwin responded almost robotically, “We witnessed on the way here that Marco's running speed can reach extraordinary levels when motivated enough, most likely faster than horses. To prepare us for the situation ahead, you and Jean will go ahead equipped with a flare gun. Once you are in a safe enough distance to see the status of the Garrison's work, send up a flare letting the rest of the scouting legion know what to expect. Understand?”

Marco nodded eagerly.

“Good. The green flare will mean that the Garrison has kept the situation relatively under control. Red means that they are in need of help but are still functional. Black will mean that they have lost control of the situation and it has gone horribly wrong. Of course, three simple colours aren't enough to detail us of the entire situation but it is the best we have.” Erwin continued to explain.  
“But since we'll arrive before everyone else, are we just expected to stand around and wait for you to catch up?”  
“Engage in combat only if necessary. Get into the walls in whatever way you can which won't endanger the walls within. However, if you see a deviant titan, kill it immediately. They are too unpredictable to rely on just following us out of the walls. We just need you to keep us updated.”  
“What will happen when we leave the wall? There are no more buildings or trees to use our 3DMG on. Are we going to use the horses?”  
“It depends on the flare. If green, yes we will. If red or black, we won't as it will be too dangerous to steer through any possible wreckage. Marco...I know this might be a bit much to ask, but we need your speed and your vast body space for us to grab onto. We need you to let us attach ourselves to you and to escort us to the castle. Can you do that?”

The titan nodded a little less eagerly at that. He didn't really like the idea of having several grappling hooks dig into his skin, remembering back to the trap in the forest of giant trees.

“Good. Move out!”

Marco effortlessly hoisted Jean up onto his hand, ready to break out into a full sprint. Diving into a slide to get through the readily open gates used to transport larger goods, cupping Jean in his hands to protect him from the shock, the giant briskly leapt to his feet and continued their journey towards the disaster site. With the wind stinging Jean's eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks in an effort to squint at the scenery in front of him in the titan's tightly wrapped fingers, Marco approached the pillar of smoke sourcing from the flash, growing increasingly larger and more ominous. Coming to a halt not too far outside the gates, Marco outstretched his arm to allow Jean to be in range of the walls looming above him. After scaling the wall under the careful eye of a cautionary Marco, Jean was presented with the chaos that unfolded below. Taken aback by the situation, Jean swooped back down onto Marco's awaiting palm and readied his flare gun. Vaguely seeing the silhouette of thundering horses racing towards them, Jean loaded a flare and fired it into the piercing blue sky.

“Red!” Erwin bellowed back to the scouting legion.

“No way in.” Jean reported to Marco, “The gates are sealed shut and the last thing humanity wants is a free pass for the titans into the walls via another hole. Are you good at climbing?”

Marco's eyes almost popped out in surprise, pointing to the wall.

“Yep, you're going to have to scale it.”

The titan nervously approached Wall Rose, his stomach forming knots. After a mighty leap with his hands slightly shaking, he grasped the stone creating indents for him to assist his climb. Kicking in indents with his feet, he gradually started to scale the wall, with encouraging words shouted from Jean just above him, hanging onto the stone with his 3DMG. Successfully reaching the top of the wall, the titan made a daring leap of faith, creating an earth-shattering shockwave on his landing. Marco's ankles and calves were shattered from the fall, but regenerated in time to meet Jean to hunt the deviants that threatened the rest of their comrades, having almost reached the wall themselves. While scanning the town for any potential targets, the gates were opened, the scouting legion pouring in on their 3DMG, blades shimmering in the sunlight.

The wind harshly whistled in Jean's ears as he swiftly darted in between ravaged buildings to keep up with Marco, carefully dodging obstacles at full speed. The human and titan pair and fought tooth and nail, through an endless swarm of vacant-eyed titans, towards the source of the flash. Jean, straggling behind Marco, kept to his position with the other humans in strict formation, slaughtering titan after titan as their now lifeless bodies shook the pebbles on the ground below with their mighty, defeated thump. Narrowly missing the jaws of a ten metre class, Jean wiped the sweat off his brow with a dirt covered sleeve, almost choking in the clouds of dust that the fallen titan corpses sent billowing up into the air. His breathing quickened while his heart pounded furiously as he saw another smaller, yet agile titan bound after him, saliva stringing from the titan's oddly white, chipped teeth. Before the titan could make Jean its lunch, it fell to its knees, the nape of its neck visibly missing. A blur of shining black hair and the sight of a red scarf zoomed past Jean, the titan blood from Mikasa's swords still evaporating from her last kill. Marco came screeching to a halt and whipped his head around to make sure Jean was still alright, breathing a tiny sigh of relief when he saw him effortlessly land on an adjacent rooftop, puffs of steam billowing from the corners of the titan's mouth. Their brief moment together was shattered by the sound of gigantic bodies slamming onto the pavement, with three titans being slaughtered in less than a minute. Baffled by the speed and cleanliness of the executions, they discovered that it was no other than Levi, who slowed down for a fraction and glanced at Jean and Marco with piercingly serious eyes.

“Don't slacken off, Marco. Zackly has given you this one and only chance to prove you're worth sparing. Don't give him a reason to have you killed.” Levi reminded the both of them before a hiss of gas signalled his leave.

Jean turned back to the pathway he had mentally planned out to get to the edge of the town, only to find that the buildings he hoped he'd latch onto were now piles of rubble and steaming, rotting titan carcass. The only other structurally untouched buildings he could hopefully attach his 3DMG onto was too far for the wires to reach, both back to Wall Sina where they came from and out towards Wall Rose. The soldier was stuck in a dead end. His concentration shattered time and time again due to a low boom occurring almost rhythmically. Jean whipped his head around after realising that what he was hearing was the sound of numerous, rumbling footsteps which followed the rest of the scouting legion who fell behind Mikasa and Levi. Panicking because they were swinging right into a dead end, Jean had a small spark of an idea which he knew Marco wouldn't like much.

“Marco I'm sorry to do this, but hold out your arm! Let them grapple their 3DMG onto it so they have a leverage across!”

Marco's face twisted into a grimace as he extended his arm as Jean tried to demonstrate what he was thinking to the rest of the scouting legion. Jean started to swing off the titan's arm and land on it repeatedly, praying that someone understood. Thankfully, Armin deciphered Jean's message and immediately informed the other soldiers of Jean's plan.

“Grapple your 3DMG onto Marco's arm! There are no more secure buildings within our range to use as leverage!” Armin tried to scream to the rest. If they couldn't hear him, then Armin hoped that they could figure it out fast enough to not end up as titan food for the strays following behind them.

The scouting legion grew closer and closer to the gaping hole that was the now shattered Wall Rose, lined by the tired and beaten Garrison. With one mighty swing, the soldiers soared mid-air, leapt through the hole and aimed at Marco's back and shoulders. In perfect timing they fired the grappling hooks from the 3DMG, withdrew the wires and began beeline towards the titan.

“Get on!” Jean called, the soldiers each fastening themselves to the grimacing titan. “NOW RUN!”

Marco bolted as fast as his titan legs could take him, tirelessly being hunted down by a horde of fellow titans lusting after the flesh of the humans on his shoulders. Much to the joy of the frightened 104th, the castle's eerie silhouette grew clearer and clearer, each of the young soldiers praying that it would approach faster.

“Come on Marco,” Erwin cried out, “FORWARD!!”  
“You can do it, Marco!”  
“Run, freckles!!”  
“Move it, Marco!!”

“Marco,” Jean began, moving close to Marco's ear, “I believe in you.”

__________

 

“Erwin...you are out of your mind.” Pixis sighed to himself, preparing the Garrison for their final assault on the scarce titans who didn't follow the bait.  
“Pixis,” Dok began, “Do you think they'll make it back alive?”  
“Well they'll have to, wouldn't they?” Pixis replied, “Erwin's reputation is on the line. Remember what happened with Shardis five years ago? He nearly wiped out his entire branch due to his incompetence. The scouting legion is in good hands with Erwin, and with that titan's abilities on their side, they have a fairly decent chance on making it back.”  
“If the titan doesn't turn on them, that is.”  
“Ah yes, there's that possibility...”

__________

 

“SOLDIERS!” Erwin boomed to the awaiting soldiers lining the balconies and railings of the building, with Jean perched on Marco's shoulder.

Droplets of sweat glistened on Erwin's forehead, his eyes unblinkingly fixed on the incoming targets, eyebrows furrowed. The first target, a scrawny-looking 10 metre class stumbled in clumsily within the range of the 3DMG. This was the only signal Erwin needed to begin the assault.

“The titans are all together in a huddled group!” Erwin began to command, “This creates some problems in terms of getting to their napes. Marco! We'll need you to eliminate the larger classes blocking the smaller classes. They'll make easy targets as they're all too focused on us for them to turn on you, leaving their napes exposed. Once they have been defeated, the rest of us will kill the remainder with you acting as our aid if we get into any trouble.”

Marco gently set Jean down next to Sasha, her gaze completely fixed on the titan's moving hand. 

“READY?”

The soldiers glanced at each other nervously.

“ATTACK!!”

 

_________________________________

[A/N: I think this chapter gave me the worst writing block so far! A lot of things have happened between the last chapter and this one, sorry for taking so long to write it! I hope this has been worth the wait and I'll try and upload the next one a little bit sooner...]


End file.
